SHP Forums

The One Thing That Stuck Out For Me About Laura Bow games...

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?

The first Laura Bow, to me, was one of Sierra's "close to flawless" games. I loved the atmosphere in this game. (The characters in the first were great, but, to me, were less strong in the following game; and I thought LB2, over all was weaker). But the characters in the first game, the layout, the graphics - all created this amazing atmosphere.

The fingerprints copy protection (and the music there, my favourite track in the game), exploring the mansion, finding the secret passages, and spying through the paintings (and the music there, my second favourite track in the game). I also think the graphics were the best done EGA graphics of the SCI0 era games.

MusicallyInspired wrote:The fingerprints copy protection (and the music there, my favourite track in the game), exploring the mansion, finding the secret passages, and spying through the paintings (and the music there, my second favourite track in the game). I also think the graphics were the best done EGA graphics of the SCI0 era games.

I agree on all accounts. I loved that the very first time I played it, I missed the secret passages! It wasn't until like my second or third play through (which was pretty much months within beating it originally, I replayed it so often) - that I did something that triggered finding the secret passage - and then my mind was blown about how much I had originally missed! And yes, the graphics were definitely the best for the era - the amount of detail in each of those rooms is mind boggling.

Horrible as it sounds, I think death was my favourite thing about those games. The second game was very twisted, but creative, about its murders, while the first did a great job of killing Laura in unexpected ways.

Datadog wrote:Horrible as it sounds, I think death was my favourite thing about those games.

The Psycho reference was incredible.

And not just cuz she gets nekkid...

Ahem.

Discovering the pile in the basement was quite the shock...

Tawmis wrote:

Datadog wrote:Horrible as it sounds, I think death was my favourite thing about those games.

The Psycho reference was incredible.

And not just cuz she gets nekkid...

Ahem.

Collector wrote:

Tawmis wrote:

Datadog wrote:Horrible as it sounds, I think death was my favourite thing about those games.

The Psycho reference was incredible.

And not just cuz she gets nekkid...

Ahem.

Collector wrote:

Tawmis wrote:The Psycho reference was incredible.

And not just cuz she gets nekkid...

Ahem.

I love how receursive and meta this response is.

Sorry to raise this thread from the dead, but I just finished LB1 myself.

There is also the scene where Fifi changes. (I still don't like the fact that the French maid is called Fifi. That's what you call a poodle. There are so many perfectly good French names).

I also like the spying through the paintings and finding the hidden passages. The graphics ... I can take them or leave them (obviously dated now, but meh!)

Rath Darkblade wrote: ↑Sun Jan 01, 2023 7:08 am Sorry to raise this thread from the dead, but I just finished LB1 myself.
There is also the scene where Fifi changes. (I still don't like the fact that the French maid is called Fifi. That's what you call a poodle. There are so many perfectly good French names).
I also like the spying through the paintings and finding the hidden passages. The graphics ... I can take them or leave them (obviously dated now, but meh!)

I can't help but wonder if she's called "Fifi" because she's the Colonel's "pet" in the game.

Yes, but hold on: she's also going out with Jeeves. So she's certainly not anyone's pet!

I also think I was too hasty about the graphics. Obviously EGA graphics are limited, but the game creators achieved some great things with light and shadow here.

Rath Darkblade wrote: ↑Sun Jan 01, 2023 6:19 pm Yes, but hold on: she's also going out with Jeeves. So she's certainly not anyone's pet!
I also think I was too hasty about the graphics. Obviously EGA graphics are limited, but the game creators achieved some great things with light and shadow here.

Yes, but is the Colonel aware of what Fifi's doing on the side?
There's a lot of subplots in this game with characters doing different things, making different deals, etc.

And yes, the graphics in LB1 are downright amazing. LB1 and LSL2 are easily my favorite graphics. EASILY.

The Colonel's Bequest & CLUE (the movie) is what inspired me to make my own little game of people trapped in a house...

http://tawmis.com/finalsoul/

I wish I had the original source code still, or a decompiler that you could that for me, because there's bugs in the stupid game (like a door reveals itself, but you can't do anything with it, even though it says it's open, until you do something else)...

But definitely has a heavy Sierra influence.

I think about redoing it... but realize I have WAY too many hobbies.

There are two types of people in this world: people who liked CLUE (the movie) and people who were wrong.

And speaking of CLUE ... here's an interesting review of it, how the critics saw it, where it went wrong, where it went right, and so on. Plus ... a minute or two about the upcoming (maybe-yes-maybe-no-maybe-possible) remake!

I'm not opposed to the idea of a remake. Maybe it'll be good! Maybe it'll be horrible. Maybe it will be ... eh. *shrug* But I'd like to see it. If it's horrible, then no-one would like it and more people would rush to see the original!

With TIM CURRY! And MADELINE KAHN!!! And CHRISTOPHER LLOYD!!!

And ... all right, I'd better stop before we all drown in capital letters and emojis and exclamation points