PQ3 question...

[DeadPoolX]

Fair enough. There's no map, so I made notes of where to turn and which directions to take. Thanks, DPX!

If you got this from GoG - there is a map. It's one of the extra downloads.

I think he meant in-game. But yeah... on GOG there's a downloadable map for PQ3. Rath probably didn't notice it because most extra downloadable items on GOG are relatively meaningless to the actual gameplay, like music or artwork.

[Rath Darkblade]

Aaaaaaand -- huzzah! I've now finished PQ3.

Hmm. I'm not sure why, but I think I found the bits where Sonny is in uniform (i.e. making routine arrests and handing out tickets, etc.) much more enjoyable than Sonny as detective. *shrug* did anyone else feel the same? Maybe it's because I know that Sonny's "detective" persona in PQ1 was dying his hair blond and putting on a leisure suit, so I could never take "Leisure Suit Sonny" seriously.

[Tawmis]

Aaaaaaand -- huzzah! I've now finished PQ3.

Hmm. I'm not sure why, but I think I found the bits where Sonny is in uniform (i.e. making routine arrests and handing out tickets, etc.) much more enjoyable than Sonny as detective. *shrug* did anyone else feel the same? Maybe it's because I know that Sonny's "detective" persona in PQ1 was dying his hair blond and putting on a leisure suit, so I could never take "Leisure Suit Sonny" seriously.

PQ3 was my favorite of the PQ series. It reminded me very much of an 80's Horror Suspense movie.

Probably because of pinning the things on the map to discover a pentagram - reminded me very much of First Power because of the scene straight up from the movie... (though PQ3 obviously doesn't have the supernatural element)

[notbobsmith]

Aaaaaaand -- huzzah! I've now finished PQ3.

Hmm. I'm not sure why, but I think I found the bits where Sonny is in uniform (i.e. making routine arrests and handing out tickets, etc.) much more enjoyable than Sonny as detective. *shrug* did anyone else feel the same? Maybe it's because I know that Sonny's "detective" persona in PQ1 was dying his hair blond and putting on a leisure suit, so I could never take "Leisure Suit Sonny" seriously.

PQ3 was my favorite of the PQ series. It reminded me very much of an 80's Horror Suspense movie.

Probably because of pinning the things on the map to discover a pentagram - reminded me very much of First Power because of the scene straight up from the movie... (though PQ3 obviously doesn't have the supernatural element)

I felt the same way as you Rath. It might have been the small sense of accomplishment of doing routine police work: handing out a ticket, arresting a drunk driver. I didn't care too much for the main plot of PQ3. It was just too over the top for me. And why would the final point of the pentagram lead you to the killer when the other points are the locations of the murder victims? I though PQ1's main plot was better. Breaking up a drug ring is a bit simpler and easier to grasp. Although I'm pretty sure the "transmitter pen" did not exist as 1980's technology.

[DeadPoolX]

My favorite PQ game of the bunch is, without a doubt, Police Quest 2. It's not the "best" game of the series and it's certainly not the most realistic as it resembles a cop TV show more than genuine police work, but it was also a lot of fun.

One thing I really liked about PQ2 was that I didn't have to manually drive anywhere. I just typed "drive to [location]" and Sonny started driving. Don't get me wrong, there's a certain amount of charm to driving in PQ1 and PQ3 (although the original EGA AGI-version of PQ1 made driving incredibly frustrating at times), but after a while I felt that charm wore off and became a chore more than anything.

One major downside to PQ2 was that it was very, very easy to get into an unwinnable scenario by forgetting to re-adjust the sights on your gun after the trap set at a motel where you and Keith bust in. This worst part about it is that you wouldn't realize you'd screwed yourself until later in the game when you're on an airliner and terrorists hijack it, so you'd have to restore to a much earlier section or, if you saved over those earlier parts, start all over.

[notbobsmith]

My favorite was PQ1. I liked the routine police work (writing a ticket, making arrests...) before you become a detective and get into the main plot. PQ2 handled detective work in an a way that recognized the limitations of being in a game, but still worked. For example, in PQ3 you "investigate" a murder. But all you do is collect some evidence at the crime scene. No interviewing witnesses or friends or family about his last known whereabouts. All of this would be difficult to cram into the game (although PQ4 does this pretty well at first) so it gets left out. In PQ2, you are just trying to track down Bains, so there's no need to talk to people and all of the evidence collection is "unnecessary" but you get rewarded points for good police work. There's no "whodunit", but you still have to investigate.

I actually liked the driving in PQ1AGI the best. It at least gave you the opportunity to "drive illegally" if you had to. You could back up or make a u-turn in the middle of the street. I hated having to go around the block in PQ3 because I overshot the location I was trying to get to.

And places to "dead end" the game always suck. I don't think PQ1 has many places where this can happen. I mean, I think if you leave your gun in the locker in the jail you are out of luck, but you have to be pretty forgetful or deliberately trying to mess things up to do that.

[Tawmis]

Aaaaaaand -- huzzah! I've now finished PQ3.

And just to say - that was pretty quick!

[Rath Darkblade]

Heh. Yes, PQ3 was not as difficult as PQ1 or PQ2. The hardest thing about PQ3, as notbobsmith mentioned, was keeping my temper after I drove past when I was supposed to, and then driving around the block again (and thinking "NNnngnggghhhh...")