The One Thing That Stuck Out For Me About Leisure Suit Larry

[Tawmis]

The One Thing That Stuck Out For Me About Leisure Suit Larry

All of Sierra's "main" games were very different in themes, and as a result - the way the game played, interacted, etc.

If you had to pick out ONE thing (good, or bad) - about the game, that left a lasting impression (and feel free to go into detail) - what would it be?

And I'd like it to be just ONE thing (because on some of our favorites, it's too easy to list all the things we enjoyed).

I want to focus on what made EACH game of the different titles (GK, LSL, PQ, KQ, etc) different than one another?

[Collector]

The One Thing That Stuck... About Leisure Suit Larry

His er... never mind.

[Tawmis]

The One Thing That Stuck... About Leisure Suit Larry

His er... never mind.

For me the one thing that stuck out about Leisure Suit Larry was the humor. Leisure Suit Larry, ironically, had a very strong hand in helping me develop my own humor (which I'd like to think is similar to Al Lowe's), which is probably why I identified with the game so much (and probably because as a teenager, I was often rejected by ladies!)

[Mostly]

I was too young to really get LSL when I played the first game at a family friend's house. Regardless, what stood out to me was the ridiculousness of it all. You aren't a would-be King exploring a fantasy land, a police officer catching bad guys, or even a space custodian. Nope, you're just a guy trying to get laid and not contract a fatal STD in the process. :p

LSL7 in particular stands out to me for being a great game. It blends the old parser with the newer point-and-click mechanics, feeling like a natural evolution of the genre. The animation is pretty good, the trademark Al Lowe humor is there, and the game is quite well-designed especially with giving the player some freedom. LSL7 is definitely one of the best games Sierra released in their golden years of the mid-90s.

[BBP]

Now that I'm more proficient with the English language I can really appreciate how much Larry 1 thinks with you. There's little verb guessing and a LOT of content!

The content is really the grand prize for me in most of the games, and the ones where I find it lacking are the games I like least (LSL3 and LSL5). In LSL6, when my father was playing it for the first time, he failed the final girl because he didn't know what to do with Thunderbird's present. I played it a little, and I played it by trying everything: first looking at every single one of the many objects in the inventory, then using all the other icons on them... And before you know it I found it - in the interim I had many, many good laughs with the silly answers!

LSL7 has the "Other..." option in dialog boxes as attempt to reintroduce typing. In my teens I typed a gazillion things in the boxes. I found that topics like "sex" and "captain thygh" usually created some extra funny dialogue... but it was when Jamie Lee turned out to have a response to "fashion", which gained me two topics, that I really was stunned. So much content! SO MUCH!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1e2k6OlDFI

LSL5 had little of that save in the inventory (which I never noticed when playing since the game is a breeze) but I very much enjoyed the keyboard session. I used to play the music on my keyboard.

[Tawmis]

I've always found it amazing that women (for example, our very own BBP) enjoyed LSL. So many women I knew found it "crass and gross" (and granted never truly played, only heard of the "concept" of the game).

In today's world, I can't even imagine LSL surviving before an activist group moved to shut it down. I have always been very surprised that LSL1Reloaded managed to get done.

[Collector]

Yeah, but the womanizer was such a lovable loser.

[Rath Darkblade]

Heh. That's what I liked about Larry - that he would ultimately fail, but he wouldn't stop trying. Crass? perhaps, but in a lovable way. Gross? I can't imagine anyone thinking that the LSL concept is gross, and if anyone thinks so, I have one question for them:

"So you think that Leisure Suit Larry is gross - but my dear sir/madam, if your father or mother had thought the same as you do, why, where would you have been?"

There are so many games out there that are much crasser and more gross than Leisure Suit Larry. Quest for Glory 4.5 is one... Bully. Grand Theft Auto (any of them). And, to its lasting shame, LSL: MCL (which is not really part of the LSL "tradition", anyway).

I don't think I know many games that are funnier than LSL. (DA:O's party banter, perhaps). For those reasons and more, I enjoyed and continue to enjoy Leisure Suit Larry's adventures.

Incidentally, there's a rumour that Al Lowe might re-develop LSL2. I'm very curious about that...

[BBP]

Every woman has met a Leisure Suit Larry in their life: a totally undesirable guy who's at least 20 years older than you and is flirting with you and failing, you feel sorry for him and you try to be nice but it doesn't help.

[Tawmis]

Every woman has met a Leisure Suit Larry in their life: a totally undesirable guy who's at least 20 years older than you and is flirting with you and failing, you feel sorry for him and you try to be nice but it doesn't help.

You're talking about me, aren't you?

[BBP]

It's a bit typical that the only guys who flirted with me were obviously a lot older - there's one guy at a neighborhood outreach where I visit the monthly flea market. Guy is in his 80s.

Fortunately I now feel stronger thanks to my BF, so it's easier for me to shake off, but such people can be on the disturbing side.

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmm, they can be; luckily, Larry is not one of those. *G*

Loneliness and age can drive guys to do desperate things, true. (And not just guys, either. I've met one or two Leisure Suit Lauras).

[Tawmis]

but such people can be on the disturbing side.

I still feel like you're talking about me.

But all honestly - glad your boyfriend has shown you the strength in you to ignore the "Larrys" of the real world.

[BBP]

I'm now test-playing LSL7 for Qbix...

And I'm still finding stuff I hadn't seen before! I showed sillicone lubricant to Victorian.

[Rath Darkblade]

Showing all kinds of things to Victorian is great fun: the magazine page (that used to hold the fish in the kitchen), your TMT score card, your cabin keycard...