Adventure Game Puzzles (was King's Quest III - The Pain)

[Tawmis]

SQ1: The slot machine

Trying to remember - isn't there a way to "cheat" the slot machine? Or was this in SQIV when you go back in time?

The remake added an item that let you cheat. The original didn't have it.

Ah ha! That's why I remember the "cheat" thing!

SQ2: The vine maze monster

Yes, this was a nightmare also. But another one I didn't mind, because I could believe that there was some form of fauna that had laid out traps like that. (Such fauna exists in real life - I mean, not like that - but things like the Venus Fly trap and such).

I don't think the plausibility of the situation really enters into it: I don't think its presence increased my enjoyment of the game (rather the opposite).

Which I understand (why you didn't enjoy it). I just thought (for myself) it added a little "life" to the game - here was an alien species that could logically exist and I had to get past it to get where I needed. Didn't bother me too much. (Now if there was no way to save - then... that'd be another story).

SQ3: Failing to zap all the trash properly

I am trying to remember where this is? I am ashamed because of the Space Quest series, SQIII was probably my favorite.

It's at the end. You're disguised as janitor and sneaking through ScumSoft. You have to zap the trash in each wastebasket you find. If you accidentally walk past one or zap the floor, they'll catch on to you.

Ah yes, okay I remember now.

SQ4: The robot maze at the end

I can't remember this one either? (Thankfully I am on a quest to replay all the classic Sierra games...)

It's at the very end, when you're inside the machine. There are patrolling robots that can instantly kill you as soon as they enter the screen. There's an optional (and complicated) way to see a map of their current position, but you still have to navigate the maze in real time without them getting you.

Apparently remembering things at the very end of the game is something my brain doesn't recall much without a good nudge!

KQ2: The poison thorn maze, until I learned about one of the most ridiculous puzzles ever

That was tricky. The answer was simply to not kill the snake.
But they put the wrong answer in front of you first.

I know that now. However, nothing will ever convince me that "throw the bridle on the snake so that it turns into a flying horse that gives you a magic sugar cube that protects you from poisonous plants" is a sensible puzzle. I suppose that, from the way you get the three items from the lamp, you could guess that the bridle is useful for that quest. However, even then, you're just at the point of "I'll try using this item and see what happens", rather than actually trying to achieve a particular end result.

That is very true.

Another issue I take up with King's Quest III is - a lot of the times it's a waiting game. I was out collecting stuff, but knew my half hour was almost up (and I still needed more things to do) - so I quickly returned to the castle, hid my items, and literally waited for six minutes for Manahahahanana to say he was back from his trip.

Say what you will about AGDI's KQ backstory and the new puzzles, but their KQ3 Redux really had some wonderful quality-of-life changes:

• The eagle feather is via puzzle instead of a random drop.
• The mountain path is far less mazy.
• There's no risk of running out of food, due to replenishing porridge.
• The timer is color-coded to let know how you close the wizard is to returning/waking.
• You can just sleep in your bed to pass time.
• You no longer need to spend real time in the pirate ship.
• There's no longer the spell-typing copy protection.
• No more dying accidentally to the Medusa.

That's about all the really annoying things about KQ3 "fixed".

Never played that KQ3 Redux. Interesting changes. How did they make the eagle feather a puzzle? (I don't mind spoilers, as I may never play the Redux version... I think I have it DL'ed but I am currently trying to play through all the Sierra games I have... so it will be a long time before I get to fan games... which means, even if you tell me, chances are when/if I get to play the KQ3 Redux, I will have forgotten what you told me!)

I like the idea that you can sleep in your bed to pass the time!

And the spell thing - I have a few gripes with it.

[Tawmis]

And what about Patti's long, long walk through the maze in LSL3? If you forget (or don't know about) even one thing before you start... game over.....

I remember when my friend Shawn and I finally realized how to get out of the "maze"...

[Tawmis]

Soo.... Adeyke... have you ever played Gold Rush?

LOL

That's just mean.

No. I take it that, if I had, there would be a lot of entries from it on my list?

Now if you take into consideration the historical accuracy they try to put in the game... You might not be as angry. But yes, you can die - frequently - in that game, from just diseases and what not (or food poisoning) - and it's all random (just like it was back then). So this is definitely a game of save early, save often, save multiple.

That said, I absolutely LOVE Gold Rush. LOVE it. It was a game that was WAY ahead of it's time. WAY ahead of it's time. With it's diverse choices, options and replayability.

[adeyke]

Never played that KQ3 Redux. Interesting changes. How did they make the eagle feather a puzzle? (I don't mind spoilers, as I may never play the Redux version... I think I have it DL'ed but I am currently trying to play through all the Sierra games I have... so it will be a long time before I get to fan games... which means, even if you tell me, chances are when/if I get to play the KQ3 Redux, I will have forgotten what you told me!)

I like the idea that you can sleep in your bed to pass the time!

And the spell thing - I have a few gripes with it.

In KQ3 Redux, the eagle is sitting in a nest on the mountain path. If you place some food on that screen, it'll swoop down to take it and fly away, leaving a feather.

[Tawmis]

Never played that KQ3 Redux. Interesting changes. How did they make the eagle feather a puzzle? (I don't mind spoilers, as I may never play the Redux version... I think I have it DL'ed but I am currently trying to play through all the Sierra games I have... so it will be a long time before I get to fan games... which means, even if you tell me, chances are when/if I get to play the KQ3 Redux, I will have forgotten what you told me!)
I like the idea that you can sleep in your bed to pass the time!
And the spell thing - I have a few gripes with it.

In KQ3 Redux, the eagle is sitting in a nest on the mountain path. If you place some food on that screen, it'll swoop down to take it and fly away, leaving a feather.

See, now that's brilliant!

[BBP]

Soo.... Adeyke... have you ever played Gold Rush?

LOL

That's just mean.

No, GoldRush is mean.

Anyway Adeyke, I'd definitely put KQ7's Bogeyman as the protagonists run too slowly, KQ6 Cliffs of Logic there. KQ5 is hard to determine since that was annoying start to finish, but the one thing that made me quit it was the blue monster you had to wait for tomake him trip over the peas - he'd startle me so bad every time that I never managed to beat him.

[Spikey]

They expected us to have a tremendous amount of patience back in the day. It was not just screens that needed you to have an insane skill with the arrow keys, a lot of other things required heaps of patience too. I remember my strategy for Colonel's Bequest was... playing it over and over again, grinding bits of information here and there to try and piece it together. It was kind of brutal, and these days, kids would look at a game like that and say "that game is so boring, you don't even play".

[Tawmis]

They expected us to have a tremendous amount of patience back in the day. It was not just screens that needed you to have an insane skill with the arrow keys, a lot of other things required heaps of patience too. I remember my strategy for Colonel's Bequest was... playing it over and over again, grinding bits of information here and there to try and piece it together. It was kind of brutal, and these days, kids would look at a game like that and say "that game is so boring, you don't even play".

I don't think any game (recently) has ever tried my patience more than recently replaying the original King's Quest III...

[BBP]

Adventure games were in development then - if you check TVTropes you'll find that a lot of game elements that Sierra pioneered or used extensively, have become discredited - Unwinnable By Design, Guide Dang It, Trial And Error Gameplay, Moon Logic Puzzle, All There In The Manual... Rather sad.

[Tawmis]

Adventure games were in development then - if you check TVTropes you'll find that a lot of game elements that Sierra pioneered or used extensively, have become discredited - Unwinnable By Design, Guide Dang It, Trial And Error Gameplay, Moon Logic Puzzle, All There In The Manual... Rather sad.

Well, I think a lot of it has to do with how far technology has come. Sierra had to limit to cramming this onto small disks. Nowadays, games are burned on DVDs - (and sometimes, that's just the installer - then it DOWNLOADS the actual computer, for games like MMOs).

I will never ever say that Sierra did not set the ground for gaming. They did. Anyone who says otherwise, is out of their mind.

However, due to the limitations of space - Sierra was limited. But there are so many ways - in hindsight - that a lot of their games could have been made a little easier. I can't count how many times when typing "look" and providing a clue about something on that screen that STANDS out - would have been beneficial to explain. Like in KQ2, when you type look on the screen with the snakeskin - all it says is, "The desert stretches as far west as the eye can see" (or something). Why not say, "The desert stretches as far west as the eye can see. You also see snakeskin on the ground." BOOM! Now I know there's something out of place here - ESPECIALLY since the snakeskin is the same color as the waves of sand! Same thing in KQ2, where the brigand fort is - there is NO WAY to know about the fort unless you do look hole in tree or something specific. Why not give a clue with a simple look command?

I feel like what happened is because Sierra's game became "graphic" based and not text based, they got a little "lazy" (for lack of a better word) as to what to say when you say "look." Because in a text adventure game, it'd describe the room and anything unusual within the room. So you at least had an idea WHAT you might be interacting with.

[notbobsmith]

I think game design in general was still in its infancy at the time. Many console games released at the time were so difficult they would be almost unplayable now. I never had an NES, but even I'm familiar with the Contra Code.

Adventure games were in development then - if you check TVTropes you'll find that a lot of game elements that Sierra pioneered or used extensively, have become discredited - Unwinnable By Design, Guide Dang It, Trial And Error Gameplay, Moon Logic Puzzle, All There In The Manual... Rather sad.