Floppy versus CD versions

[notbobsmith]

I just got Freddy Pharkas from GOG the other day and it includes both a floppy and CD version. I was wondering what the difference was. Obviously the CD has voices. Put another way: why wouldn't I want play the CD version? It just seemed a little strange that GOG would include both if there wasn't any significant difference. Just curious.

[adeyke]

The floppy version has more jokes (e.g. every possible inventory interaction gives a unique funny message). That's easier to do when it's just text. From Wikipedia:

Mandel had explained in a commentary the reason why there were so many more jokes in the Floppy Disk version as compared to the CD-ROM version of the game, "I had co-designed, directed, produced, and written the floppy version; there were no plans at all, at the time, to produce a CD version. When sales of the floppy version justified a CD version, I was no longer available to produce and direct it, having by then started on SQ6. Al Lowe was then tapped to do the casting and recording of the CD version, but the game already had so much text in it that, when it came time to record the inventory text, Al just stopped—he was, he said, tired of sitting in the sound studio. As I had written the vast majority of the game's text and dialogue, I pointed out to him that, in the process of cutting roughly 15% of the game's text from the recording, he'd not only left out many jokes, but many clues and hints as well".

[notbobsmith]

Makes sense. I think Loom had a similar issue with space on the CD. Well, it's nice of GOG to include both. When I get around to it, maybe I'll start with the floppy version then.

[Collector]

I think Loom had a similar issue with space on the CD.

Especially since the audio of Loom CD was Redbook CDA.

[Tawmis]

I was just coming here to ask the same thing about the difference... Cool to know.

[OmerMor]

Now all that's left to do is wait for someone (NRS?) to make a merged version a-la NRS' SQ4 CD version update.

[adeyke]

That reminds me. Sierra games are a very mixed bag when it comes to text + speech support. There are, AFAIK, four categories:

• Games that allow text + speech simultaneously.
• Games that let you toggle in-game between text and speech.
• Games that have the text as backup in case the system doesn't support speech.
• Games that have no text at all.

I'd love for there to be fan patches to bring all the games to the text + speech standard, the way that SQ4 patch did.

[Tawmis]

Would be cool (not tried the SQ4 patch, so it might be obvious) - but in the case of Freddy Pharkas - there was "extra" text (because it doesn't take room) like an audio file would.

So how would you get the "missing audio" for those parts that are not in the game? Without splicing the words from the original narrator (for example) to "say" everything that's "missing"?

[adeyke]

The idea is that it would just show the text for those lines, with no audio. An unvoiced line would be better than none at all (right now, the CD version of FPFP will just say "huh?" and show a red X for those things).

[Tawmis]

The idea is that it would just show the text for those lines, with no audio. An unvoiced line would be better than none at all (right now, the CD version of FPFP will just say "huh?" and show a red X for those things).

I see.

That seems like it would be easy to do... if you've done it once, you'd be familiar how to do it (not you, per se, but whomever did the SQ4 patch)