King's Quest IX- Every Cloak has a Silver Lining

I realize a thread about King's Quest might be a bit out of place on TNL, seeing as how (a) it's a PC game and (b) it's old as shit, but I figure some people might have some interest in this. Anyway...

Stumbled upon this link early this morning, and was pretty happy with what these guys are trying to do... a bunch of King's Quest fans who were unhappy with how King's Quest VIII turned out and how Sierra treated the series (and adventure gaming in general), took it upon themselves to create a much better final installment for this series, much more akin to the earlier KQ games.

Well, they can explain themselves a lot better then I can, so here's the link:


http://www.kq9.org/


I like what they're doing, but I think they could use some better 3D artists for the project. But hey, it's freeware, and it's pretty nostalgic for people like me (King's Quest VI is like the best adventure game ever... or one of them, if you ask me).

Wow, people actually putting money where their mouth is. My respect goes out to them for even attempting this.

I haven't played King's Quest since elementary school.

Another cool link...

http://www.agdinteractive.com/

Full remakes of King's Quest 1 and 2, for free to download. Enjoy.

(Looks like the link to KQ1 is down at the moment, but KQ2 is up and working fine along with the music and speech packs. Note that these are pretty much pretty VGA remakes, or revisions, to the old KQ games... XP compatable too. And not as ugly as KQIX is looking currently ;) )

(Edit #2! Keep trying the links, they apparently work if you try them a couple times.)

Man, the difference graphics wise is like night and day. Good find NoFace.

Sweet.

Looks awesome for a fan project and I'll give it a try.

I played all the KQ games up to six I think? I don't think I ever played much of the KQ where you were the princess/daughter/chick/whoever she was.

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Originally Posted by Kidnemo

Sweet.

Looks awesome for a fan project and I'll give it a try.

I played all the KQ games up to six I think? I don't think I ever played much of the KQ where you were the princess/daughter/chick/whoever she was.

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Yeah, KQ7... I played it but didn't much enjoy it. They really wanted to make the make the game Disney-esque or something, and I didn't felt it jived very well. All the Graham/Alexander KQ games were pretty great I thought (5 and 6 especially).

I remember being stuck for ages, weeks and weeks atleast in KQ6 I think...

It was near the end of the game, and you were sneaking into this caslte. There was a long hallway with guards patroling it, you had to hide behind this one specific pillar (and there were tons in the hallway), and unless you were perfectly lined up behind said pillar, like, down to the pixel, the guards would see you.

Argh.

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Originally Posted by NoFace

Note that these are pretty much pretty VGA remakes, or revisions, to the old KQ games...

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Actually they revised them a fair amount. The puzzles are harder, and the story's a bit more fleshed out. If you dig around on their site there's a page somewhere that explains all the differences.

Sweet... I was unware. I stumbled on them while checking out KQIX info, and had just now downloaded them to give 'em a shot later today hopefully.

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Originally Posted by Kidnemo

I remember being stuck for ages, weeks and weeks atleast in KQ6 I think...

It was near the end of the game, and you were sneaking into this caslte. There was a long hallway with guards patroling it, you had to hide behind this one specific pillar (and there were tons in the hallway), and unless you were perfectly lined up behind said pillar, like, down to the pixel, the guards would see you.

Argh.

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Haha I remember that... fun stuff. I think I was cheating my way through the game at that point, stupid kid who was too quick to run for help... :)

If there was one genre that would break a persons soul and turn them to a FAQ, it would be point n' click adventure games. Sometimes the stuff was just so obscure that it was nearly impossible to figure out what you needed to do next (see post above about pillars).

KQ is great, but the king of the genre in my eyes will always be Quest for Glory.

Kidnemo, check out that link to the remakes of KQ1 and KQ2... the next project that team is working on is a remake of Quest for Glory II... looks good too.

Yea, I rememeber seeing that a while back I believe.

I don't think that there was ever a QFGII vga remake back in the day, I looooved the original VGA remake though.

I really should grab both of the KQ remakes and play through them one o' these days too.

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Originally Posted by Kidnemo

KQ is great, but the king of the genre in my eyes will always be Quest for Glory.

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QFG1 may just be the best adventure game of this type ever (and is easily Sierra's best ever adventure game). But the rest of the series never did it for me, especially 2.

Some of the junk in King's Quest was unsolvable... though me and friends beat 3 without cheating. I was never a HUGE KQ fan, but 3 was amazing. I played them all, but I don't think I beat KQ8 =/

Now the Space Quests (exept for 4, bleah), those were great, great games. Someone make a final SQ that links SQ6 to the future of SQ4, and we're done here.

There's a similar project by some Space Quest fans that actually has a couple people who worked on Space Quest 6 on it.

and Space Quest 5 and Sam and Max are the genre kings.

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Originally Posted by Mzo

Now the Space Quests (exept for 4, bleah), those were great, great games.

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I thought 4 was awesome. 6 was terrible though. Mark's absence was felt and the writing was bad. And the shift from hand painted art to bad pixel paint irked me to no end.

Space Quest IV... I liked that one a lot actually. First CD-ROM game I ever owned, and the first Space Quest I owned myself (though I had played others). That screaming zombie thing you could run into at the beginning of the game scarred me for years. Space Quest as a whole was great fun, I liked that series quite a bit.

Sam and Max might be my favorite adventure game... it's certainly up there. I liked Day of the Tentacle a lot too, and pretty much all of Tim Schafer's stuff.

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Originally Posted by lithium

QFG1 may just be the best adventure game of this type ever (and is easily Sierra's best ever adventure game). But the rest of the series never did it for me, especially 2.

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Word.

I remember liking 3, though my computer wouldn't run it very well and always gave me errors. :(

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Originally Posted by NoFace

Sam and Max might be my favorite adventure game... it's certainly up there. I liked Day of the Tentacle a lot too, and pretty much all of Tim Schafer's stuff.

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I haven't played either of those...I really need to give 'em a try one of these days.

And Space Quest was great, especially cause it gives off a Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy vibe like crazy.

omg, I felt that, too. Arthur Dent looks like Roger in my mind =P

4 was ok... the time travelling bit was pretty cool, but I hated that part where the Time Police are chasing you in the mall. When you step into the anti-grav rink, that puzzle is based off your CPU clock (like the cop you distract with a pastry truck in Gabriel Knight: SotF)... so on my comp, I'd get into the rink, try to float to the edge of the screen, and a cop would come in and shoot me. Every time. I even ordered the hint book for it (before gamefaqs, here) and it didn't help me at all.

I had to turn the walking speed bar all the way up. I guess that just soured the whole game for me =/

Any love for Gabriel Knight? Cabri san cors? 1 was great, and 2 is like, the only good FMV game ever. Werewolves and Wagner... I bet I know someone on TNL that loved it =P

lol!

Ugh...I hated that gravity skating-rink part.

Bad memories...bad memorieeeessss...

Gabriel Knight- Sins of the Fathers was so awesome. Especially awesome when they released the CD "talkie" version with a better soundtrack a bit later... I can still hear Tim Curry saying "Gabriel Knight"... I liked that version of Gabriel way better than the FMV actors in The Beast Within... which was like Mzo said, actually a good FMV game.

I only played a bit of the third GK game, although I wish I had played more. They brought back Mosley/Mark Hamil for that one (and made him sleazy looking heh).

Yeah those games were great. :)

Loved those old Sierra games.

I have the LSL Collection (1-5 or 6 was it?)
The PQ Collection (1-3, I think)
The KG Collection (1-6)

Sadly, there is no SQ collection that I can find. Roger Wilco is a sad panda. :(

Anyone who makes anything like those games, I'll check out day one.

You might enjoy this MVS...

I've seen two different Space Quest Collection releases (1-5 and a 1-6 one)... they shouldn't be too hard to find online.

EDIT - NoFace beat me to it... but that shizzle's expensive for these old-ass games.

5 is definitely the best, with 3 in 2nd place imo.

How about Police Quest? 1 was ok, 2 was GREAT, 3 was decent and 4 was horrible ass. Then they turned into SWAT and changed genres every year =/

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Originally Posted by Mzo

Some of the junk in King's Quest was unsolvable... though me and friends beat 3 without cheating.

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I disagree. Maybe it was childhood persistence (I was like 9 when I was playing these), but we beat all the KQ's without any help. There was no internet back then and the only help was the pay hotline.

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Originally Posted by NoFace

I realize a thread about King's Quest might be a bit out of place on TNL, seeing as how (a) it's a PC game and (b) it's old as shit

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No game is out of place at TNL. ;)

This is cool news for King's Quest fans. I was never into that series but I'm willing to give it another try.

I dug Police Quest as well. I'm trying to remember PQ4, I think that was the one with the "realistic" looking characters and environments, with the Mortal Kombat-esque sprites. I didn't mind it so much but I was a sucker for FMV shit back then... I'll take your word for it that it sucks though.

PQ3 was the one I enjoyed the most... kinda missed the boat on the first two (played the VGA remake of 1 though, that was cool).

Anyone remember playing The Black Cauldron adventure game as a kid? I really liked that, one of the first adventure games I ever got to play and it struck me as really cool back in the day. Damn I feel old now...

I remember The Black Cauldron but I never played much of it. Maniac Mansion was my most played adventure game around that time.

I played Maniac Mansion on the NES, which I'm guessing was not the ideal way to experience that game... Day of the Tentacle (the sequel, for those not in the know) was just hilarious.

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Originally Posted by NoFace

You might enjoy this MVS...

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I was hoping to avast ye scallions and what have you, but I'll take it. Thanks.

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Originally Posted by Kidnemo

If there was one genre that would break a persons soul and turn them to a FAQ, it would be point n' click adventure games.

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Actually, there is no game genre more fiendish than text parser adventure games.

Hmm... I think the original KQs and SQs might have been worse, because they had those annoying ass sections where you had to walk down skinny walkways or DIE.

But yeah, Zork was brutal =X

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Originally Posted by Donkey Thong

Actually, there is no game genre more fiendish than text parser adventure games.

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"Pick up notebook"

-What is a pick up?

"Retrieve notebook"

-You cannot retrieve.

"Claim notebook"

-You do not have claim.

:D

It was a high point in my young life when I actually beat the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy text adventure on my own.

KQVI was the first real PC game I ever played (That and Stellar 7 came with my family's first PC). I loved the friggin' game, but I loaned it off years ago and haven't seen it since. :(
...and, of course, Sierra almost disavowed any knowledge of their classic series' existance and pumps nothing but Half Life and Crash/Spyro games. Bah.
I think I may buy/arrravast those collections sometime. I miss KQ, and want to play SQ...

Only Zork I ever played was Return to Zork, another game from the FMV "heyday". Was pretty cool I thought back then, although some of it was just friggin weird (like umm, Jason Hervey, the big brother from the Wonder Years, as some crazy caveman... a high point of his career I'm sure).

Stellar 7... I remember that game... Dynamix shooter right? They made that and like... Raven something or other... memory is hazy.

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Originally Posted by NoFace

PQ3 was the one I enjoyed the most... kinda missed the boat on the first two (played the VGA remake of 1 though, that was cool).

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I never got pass one point in PQ1. It was pretty far into the game and I had been playing on and off again for years (the computer was located at my grandparents house). I'm looking into this remake now. Must...not...use....walkthrough...

Yay for adventure games!

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Originally Posted by NoFace

Another cool link...

http://www.agdinteractive.com/

Full remakes of King's Quest 1 and 2, for free to download. Enjoy.

(Looks like the link to KQ1 is down at the moment, but KQ2 is up and working fine along with the music and speech packs. Note that these are pretty much pretty VGA remakes, or revisions, to the old KQ games... XP compatable too. And not as ugly as KQIX is looking currently ;) )

(Edit #2! Keep trying the links, they apparently work if you try them a couple times.)

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Awesome. Man I'm tempted to go scrounging around for my old copy of King's Quest VI and try to get it to work.

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Originally Posted by ChaoofNee

KQVI was the first real PC game I ever played (That and Stellar 7 came with my family's first PC). I loved the friggin' game

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Play KQ3 and KQ4! They both make KQ6 look like crap, because it is compared to them. Of course these games, especially 3, have significant graphical barriers these days. But if you can overcome that, they are far better games. Roberta was in her prime then.

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Originally Posted by NoFace

Sam and Max might be my favorite adventure game... it's certainly up there. I liked Day of the Tentacle a lot too, and pretty much all of Tim Schafer's stuff.

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Finally grabbed SCUMMVM last night, right before I was supposed to go to sleep and instead spent a few hours and since I've been awake playing both of those games. I've never played Day of the Tentacle before (one of my friends had it back in the day but I never got a chance with it) and this whole sending things back and forth is messing with me. I'm getting closer and closer to being stuck but I'll resist FAQs, dammit! My old age will not hinder me now!

After that comes Indiana Jones 4, which I've also never played. Such great, great games.

I love Scummvm... I played straight through Indiana Jones, Day of the Tentacle and Sam & Max again immediately after getting it.

Other cool adventure games I feel like mentioning, all from LucasArts:

Grim Fandango (one of the best... and again, Tim Schafer)

The Dig (was pretty cool, never finished it though)

Full Throttle (lots of people say this is their favorite adventure game, but I wasn't into the whole biker gang thing so never really gave this one a fair shake)

Loom (another early CD-ROM game... was pretty awe-inspiring to me as a kid, cool visuals and music)

I don't mind derailing the thread I started to discuss other great PC adventure games as you can tell ;)

I remember watching my friend play Loom on his super advanced computer back in the day (386 and a CDROM! I believe) and thinking it was totally amazing.

I really never got into it myself, but still have found memories of sitting there bewildered looking at the "future of gaming".

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Originally Posted by NoFace

Grim Fandango (one of the best... and again, Tim Schafer)

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one of? definately the best. have you played it, mech?

and since this seems like the place for it, let me pimp my first and only neo z style thread: quest for glory. i'd love to make some more of these, but they take forever.

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Originally Posted by Kidnemo

I remember watching my friend play Loom on his super advanced computer back in the day (386 and a CDROM! I believe) and thinking it was totally amazing.

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i had a similar experience with space quest 4. i had played the others at a friend's house, but this one blew my mind. it looked like a painting, for god's sake. i talked my parents into getting a computer because of this game.

in retrospect, sq4 is probably my least favorite game in the series, but it looked damn good at the time.

anyone remember the end sequence, where you would find king's quest XXVII (or whatever) on the supercomputer? the gag was that it was several dozen gigabytes in size. crazy how it doesn't seem so insane anymore.

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Originally Posted by NoFace

The Dig (was pretty cool, never finished it though)

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Same here, not sure why I never finished it. Not that I have any clue where my copy is anymore.

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Full Throttle (lots of people say this is their favorite adventure game, but I wasn't into the whole biker gang thing so never really gave this one a fair shake)

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I don't give a rat's ass about biker gangs but I still thought it was great. More action-oriented then the others and I think you could actually die unlike the other Lucasarts games. This was always something that bugged me about the KQ and SQ games as I hated the strict timing and possible death they had, but it didn't really bother me in Full Throttle.

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Originally Posted by epmode

one of? definately the best. have you played it, mech?

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You bet your ass. "Run you pigeons, it's Robert Frost!" Another one I never finished, something I really need to rectify. I gotta talk to a friend of mine and see if he remembers where he put that and The Longest Journey (which I've only gotten to play the demo of, but that was awesome). And if he knows where my copy of Syberia is, I don't think I even got around to installing that one.

I love King's Quest. I hope this isn't like that Mask of Eternity debachle.

One of the aims of the team CV is to make it as un-Mask of Eternity like as possible.

I'll quote from somewhere on the site... these are their problems (things it lacked) with Mask of Eternity:

Featuring a member of the royal family of Daventry as the game's main character
Abundant character interaction
Humor
Non-violence
A captivating story

And their aim with King's Quest IX is to make sure it captures all those things. It looks and sounds very old school King's Quest.

Side note: I think it's cool how they're holding auditions for the voice work, and really taking the time to get decent voice overs for the game... I would have assume they'd either not do voice or just voice everything themselves... this sounds cool.

I've played many of these myself. Liked the Space Quest and Police Quest (1 & 2) games most though calibrating you gun everyday in Police Quest is annoying.

BTW. Anyone play Codname: Iceman? It started out pretty good, but I was never able to figure out how to pilot the sub.

Hello everyone! :D

I would like to first thank NoFace for mentioning our site here. My name's Neil and I am the Assistant Director of Public Relations at http://www.kq9.org. One of the major reasons for making this game is because we believe that MoE (Mask of Eternity) did not do justice to the King's Quest series. We feel that it left fans without closure since it featured a character that was not from or even related to the Royal Family. :rolleyes:

King's Quest IX: Every Cloak Has a Silver Lining is completely fan-made and will be freeware. Our aim is to tie all loose ends left open by the series. The plot, graphics, voices and music are very professional, high quality and unlike any previous game in the entire King's Quest series. I've seen the work that our team does behind the scenes, but you can see for yourself by exploring our site. In particular, I suggest reading the Journal, viewing the Art of the Week gallery or even posting a question or comment in our Forum.

Lastly, as NoFace mentioned, we are still holding Online Auditions for minor roles in the game. It is one of the many ways for fans like you to be an actual part of the development of the game. :)

The only fun i had was with Kings Quest IV when you'd make the bugger drown.

Space Quest Collection on Supr now.

I loved King's Quest 5 and 6. Ive played 1, 5, 6 and 7. I had hoped that 9 was going to be 2d....but Ill give it a try sometime anyway.

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Originally Posted by MVS

Space Quest Collection on Supr now.

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On it... thanks MVS, you are da man!!!!

Space Quest collection is essential. I've beaten all 6 (7 including both versions of 1) completely. Only adventure series I can say that about.

Grim Fandange was marred by it's gay, imprecise, and inappropriate controls that often tricked me into thinking I was doing the wrong thing when I was actually just not lined up right.

Oh, and Under a Killing Moon is easily one of the top 5 adventure games ever, under SQ4 and 5, and Sam and Max. I don't know why this series is so shafted by this board which apparently has so many old school adventure fans. Something's not right there.

I really need to get around to playing The Longest Journey...

I have the game, played it for about an hour, and then stopped. It definitely had promise, I guess I just wasn't in the mood at the time.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

Oh, and Under a Killing Moon is easily one of the top 5 adventure games ever, under SQ4 and 5, and Sam and Max. I don't know why this series is so shafted by this board which apparently has so many old school adventure fans. Something's not right there.

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I think it's the look of the Tex Murphy games that scares people away. I thought UaKM was quality but I couldn't get into it for some reason.

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Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater

I think it's the look of the Tex Murphy games that scares people away. I thought UaKM was quality but I couldn't get into it for some reason.

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Perhaps the fact that they were marketed as "Interactive Movies" and not simply oldschool adventure games with high production values scared them off, too. Pandora Directive and Martian Memorandum were also very good. Mean Streets was screwy, though, and Overseer was unfinished.

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Originally Posted by epmode

and since this seems like the place for it, let me pimp my first and only neo z style thread: quest for glory. i'd love to make some more of these, but they take forever.

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whatta great thread!

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Originally Posted by FPM

I loved King's Quest 5 and 6. Ive played 1, 5, 6 and 7.anyway.

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Wow, you're really missing out. If you had played 3 and 4 first you'd rightly realize just how bad KQ5+ are.

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Originally Posted by lithium

Wow, you're really missing out. If you had played 3 and 4 first you'd rightly realize just how bad KQ5+ are.

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Six is easily the best in the series. Five and seven are very linear and don't have much adventure in them, but they're still just fine. Eight can eat my ass.

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Originally Posted by omfgninjas

Six is easily the best in the series. Five and seven are very linear and don't have much adventure in them, but they're still just fine. Eight can eat my ass.

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I believe this news.

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Originally Posted by omfgninjas

Six is easily the best in the series. Five and seven are very linear and don't have much adventure in them, but they're still just fine. Eight can eat my ass.

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KQ6? What? That game was just going-through-the-motions ass. 3 and 4 are the apex of the series. 5 and 7 both suck for very similar reasons as 6.

3 had the large, singular landscape to explore. None of these "pockets" of land where it's really like 10 mini adventure game strung together. The pressure of Mananan, the magic system (this alone makes the game awesome), the hard puzzles, the return to Daventry. 3 absolutely blows 5+ out of the water. Hands down. It's Roberta's best game ever IMO. I'm honestly at a loss for how anyone can play KQ3 and still find another KQ game to be better.

4 just has awesome atmosphere, puzzles, chararacters, and just all in all is a pleasure to play. It's not as good as 3, but it's close.

All I can safely say is the 5 and 6 are very awesome. I have played 1 and I think 2 way back when, both of which were great too. 5 just came out at a time when sound cards were a big deal, and 6 when CD-ROM games were getting big... so I think a lot more people ended up playing those two then 3 or 4, and thus don't factor them in when judging the series. At least that's my thoughts on the matter.

7 and 8 sucked, for the record.

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Originally Posted by NoFace

All I can safely say is the 5 and 6 are very awesome.

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Stop eating the EZ-Cheez and try some of this brie.

Brie tastes like ass, man. But if you like that kind of thing . . .

:p

I played KQ3 and KQ4 before KQ6, but I still think six is better. It was the first PC game that showed me that PCs were way ahead of consoles (especially back then) when it came to games. I also think it has the best story/puzzles of them all, excluding the fucking Catacombs (which also was the first time I used the Internet to figure out how to beat something).

KQ3 was too stressful for me, I don't like time and being rushed in adventure games. I really like KQ4 a lot, but playing through with the text interface isn't something I'm patient enough for anymore, so I doubt I'll ever beat it.

I might write a KQ history for TNL one day if I'm ever not lazy enough to do so.