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Having just completed "Codename: Iceman", I thought I'd continue through my library of Sierra title that I haven't played yet. To keep things interesting, I thought I'd put it to a vote. So, let me know which title from the one's listed below I should do next:

The Adventures of Willy Beamish
The Black Cauldron
The Colonel's Bequest
Conquests of Camelot
Conquests of the Longbow
Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist
Phantasmagoria
Phantasmagoria 2

I also have "The Dagger of Amon Ra" but since that is a direct sequel to "The Colonel's Bequest", I thought it would be best to do them in order. I don't think it's as much of a concern with the Conquests or Phantasmagoria titles. So, what'll it be? I think I'll close the poll noon Sunday EST.

You're right that, for Conquests and Phantasmagoria, the order isn't so critical. They're more spiritual successors than direct sequels.

As for the games, I haven't played the Phantasmagorias, but of the others, I think I'd recommend FPFP. For most of those, I've only played through once, a long time ago, so I don't quite recall the details. I do know some of them had a whole lot of dead ends and that the Conquests games had entirely too many puzzles that just consisted of looking things up in the manual (they're a prime example of how copy protection hurts the experience.)

You can't go wrong with Freddy.

notbobsmith wrote:Having just completed "Codename: Iceman", I thought I'd continue through my library of Sierra title that I haven't played yet. To keep things interesting, I thought I'd put it to a vote. So, let me know which title from the one's listed below I should do next:
The Adventures of Willy Beamish
The Black Cauldron
The Colonel's Bequest
Conquests of Camelot
Conquests of the Longbow
Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist
Phantasmagoria
Phantasmagoria 2
I also have "The Dagger of Amon Ra" but since that is a direct sequel to "The Colonel's Bequest", I thought it would be best to do them in order. I don't think it's as much of a concern with the Conquests or Phantasmagoria titles. So, what'll it be? I think I'll close the poll noon Sunday EST.

Uh, if this was me... here's the order in game excitement playability ranks for me...

1. The Colonel's Bequest
2. Dagger of Amon Ra (not on the list, but you mentioned having it)
3. Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist
4. Phantasmagoria
5. The Black Cauldron
6. Conquests of Camelot
7. Conquests of the Longbow
8. The Adventures of Willy Beamish
9. Phantasmagoria 2

I absolutely love Colonel's Bequest, because depending on what you do, you can get different pieces of the same information (done a different way). So logically, I'd do Dagger of Amon Ra next. I absolutely _love_ Freddy Pharkus - but a lot of that is because my wife and I played together. (It's a really great game too - but I know the nostalgia of playing it with my wife also heavily influences my enjoyment). Phantasmagoria I absolutely love. But then I love haunted houses, mysteries, and a touch of thriller. The Black Cauldron is fun; because I still remember the book - and I think this was one of the first games I purchased with my own money (before even realizing it belonged to Sierra... and ironically, is the only Sierra game I ever purchased, that I no longer physically own, sadly!) The Conquest games are great; I love them both, and only rank Camelot over Longbow, because I enjoy Arthurian lore. Willy Beamish is a fun, if not, a wee bit odd of a game. Phantasmagoria 2, you'd think I'd love - but it's one of those sequels that suffers the "movie sequel" - in that "let's take everything that made the first one great and amplify it by 100!" It goes a little too over the top for me, and loses me.

After Codename: Iceman, you probably want something lighter. So, go with either Willy Beamish or Freddy Pharkas.

If I were going through the whole list myself, I'd space it out tonely so I'm not immersing myself in too many horror or fantasy games in a row. Since none of these are direct sequels, the order I'd play them in is:

Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist
The Colonel's Bequest
Conquests of Camelot
Phantasmagoria
The Adventures of Willy Beamish
The Black Cauldron
Phantasmagoria 2
Conquests of the Longbow

Datadog wrote:After Codename: Iceman, you probably want something lighter. So, go with either Willy Beamish or Freddy Pharkas.

If I were going through the whole list myself, I'd space it out tonely so I'm not immersing myself in too many horror or fantasy games in a row.

Agreed.

Looks like I have 3 votes for Freddy Pharkas and 1 vote for Colonel's Bequest, so Freddy it is!

notbobsmith wrote:Looks like I have 3 votes for Freddy Pharkas and 1 vote for Colonel's Bequest, so Freddy it is!

Oh oh...

Who said that TCB does not have humor?

Only the best scene ever.

When you do play, be sure to use the Munt installer. I have said that TCB has the best EGA art of any game bar none.

Tawmis wrote:

notbobsmith wrote:Looks like I have 3 votes for Freddy Pharkas and 1 vote for Colonel's Bequest, so Freddy it is!

Oh oh...

Image1.png

How did you do this?

Collector wrote:When you do play, be sure to use the Munt installer. I have said that TCB has the best EGA art of any game bar none.

What does the Munt installer do that is different? I'm playing with the version that came bundled with the 1997 King's Quest Collection using DOSBox-ECE and the MT-32 ROMs installed, so I don't need Munt, right?

notbobsmith wrote: How did you do this?

Screen shot. Copied and pasted the blank grey areas over the text and then used the Sierra SCI font to write what I inserted.

ECE has Munt built in. The installer uses ECE.

Phantasmagoria 2 doesn't get enough credit for how absolutely buck wild it gets and the commitment it has to that story it's trying to tell.