[cottoncandy]

I recently started replaying and enjoying the adventure games of my youth, the standouts being (Top 4)

4. QfG III
3. KQ VI
2. GK I
1. QfG IV

My question is, what are your favorite Sierra adventure games?

I'm also willing to accept any non-Sierra titles that have a similar feel. But for whatever reason, despite having enjoyed DotT and Fate of Atlantis, I'm just not a LucasArts person.

The ones I've played at some point:
Laura Bow II (I remember this being good, will probably try again)
QfG I remake
KQI,II,III remakes
KQVII (good), and KQ8 + QFG5 (barf)
SQ I remake, IV, V
GK II & III (just tried III for the first time-- Interface was too offputting.)
Freddy Pharkas (just the demo, but it seemed ok)
Never tried LSL but the sense of humor doesn't seem like something I'm too into
Phantasmagoria (Liked this, I think)
Goblins I & II (barely remember this, might try again)
EcoQuest II (Used to love this. Doubt I would now...)
Dr. Brain
Willy Beamish

Can anyone make a few suggestions or comments?? Is there anything I should try, or give another chance? Or maybe something from another brand or independent that is good?

[Lunatik]

Welcome to the forums!

Hmmm... it seems you already have a lot of awesome Sierra classics covered in your list. My personal favorites are Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within, King's Quest VI, and The Colonel's Bequest. But really, I love so many Sierra games, it's kinda unreal!

Oh and nice to see you've got Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness at the top of your favorites. To me, this one is clearly the best QFG game ever! Just thinking about Mordavia makes me wanna play it right now!

[Drunken Irishman]

I'm a die hard Sierra fan. I've played all of their adventure games except for Phantasmagoria II and those Myst-like things.

My personal favorites are:

1. Quest for Glory 4
2. Gabriel Knight I
3. King's Quest 6
4. Ecoquest II
5. Pepper's Adventures in Time
6. Space Quest I VGA (yeah, it's my most favorite in the series and I digged the retro sci-fi feel of it)
7. Freddy Pharkas

My most favorite Sierra game is Conquest of Longbow. Just because.

What I've always liked about Sierra is that how different their games are from each other. Yeah, the interface and gameplay style tend to be similar, but there's a wide chasm between sex humor of Larry and the ecotopian Eqoquest games, between the pro-Goddess themes (the two major characters in these series - Maid Marian and Aphrodite - are both mystical powerful female figures that don't fit into the christian world) of the Conquest series and police drama of Police Quest.

Sierra games had a lot of variety when it came to creative content.

I also love the Narrator character in Sierra games and the crazy random descriptions - Freddy Pharkas is probably the strongest in both of these.

[AndreaDraco83]

I can easily don't write anything and tell you to look my signature, but then there won't be any fun. So:

I'm a HUGE Sierra's fan and completist (at least, I try): and yes, Sierra's titles have something different that none other has, then or now. It's not only that they are very different from each other, covering the whole life, from eroticism to grim, dark, nightmares - it's that they feel different, as if they are really real and vivid, warm and interesting.

Anyway. My favorite games at all are the Gabriel Knight series, with a slight preference for The Beast Within

Then, as you can see, comes King's Quest VI (but I also love KQ3) and Police Quest III and the light-hearted game (I'm not usually a fan) that made me laugh the most, Freddy Pharkas Frontier Pharmacist. With Larry 3 close to it, mainly because of Passionate Patti.

I like too Quest for Glory, but I think that Trial by Fire is superior to Shadow of Darkness, or - at least - it has fewer bugs!

Conquests of the Longbow (but also Camelot) are amongst my favorites, and I totally agree with Drunken Irishmen: the pagan-enhanced feminine figures of the two games are really strong and powerful, extremely fascinating.

Right now, I'm playing Ecoquest (which I'm totally loving), Gold Rush (which could easily enter my Top10, if it would remain so good till the end) and, foremost, Space Quest 3: not being a sci-fi fan, I always disregarded Space Quest - but I have to finish them no matter what!

[Luna Sevithiainen]

I prefer Sierra over LucasArts, but it can be hard to say why. I think it must be the variety, the stories that really get me (I've been staring at the screen for a while after ending some Sierra games, but that never happened to me with a LucasArts game).
Oh, and of course the fact that you can die in most of the Sierra games yes, I am one of those weirdos that just loves to die in games (sure there are some ilogical ones, and they can be really annoying, but most of them just fit well in the story. In real life, if you walk off a cliff you die, so why not in the game. yes it is stupid, but you can expect it to happen, it is something like own resonsibility ). And not only does it add to story and suspence in the story (where would the suspence be when you got chased by poeple who want to kill you, but they can't kill you anyway because the game doesn't support dead?), stupid ways to die are funny, as are the deathmessages afterwards (true, not all have them, but those who have are often plain funny)

My all-time favorite is Conquests of the Longbow. Love the story (but I may be biased, because I just like the Robin Hood stories in genereal ), the way paganism is put into the story, the fact that you can solve puzzles in different ways, with all different consequences on the different endings, oh and of course the fact that you can die, and that you can die really studpidly (I replayed it loads of times just to find all ways to die, and to find out what the comment about my stupid actions would be)

My other Sierra favorites are Gabriel Knight 1 and KQ VI. The stories are great, got me really drawn into it. And they were also very funny, not ovedone, but nice and subtle (must be Jane Jensen's doing )

I also liked the LSL's (that is, up to 3, havent played any more yet) they are just plain funny
KQI-III were nice too, though they didnt't catch me as much as VI (yes, I first got VI, and years later bought the collection, so I only recently started playing them all )

At the moment I'm playing Freddy Pharkas. So funny, but rather difficult, and some pixelhunts. Like it though. I want to play all of Sierra, now just need to lay my hands on a lot of them

[Christian IV]

I like KQ V

you might also enjoy the Kyrandias, Legend of Kyranida, LoK II Hand of Fate and LoK III Malcom's Revenge and also Death Gate ....in the same period and questing nature as many of the Sierras.

The Sierra company did indeed leave a large and unique footprint in the history of Adventure gaming so far I love Patrick Stewart in his voicing in the Lands of Lore Throne of Chaos but II and III are also great games with many innovations and much great content.

[Collector]

I, too, enjoyed the Sierra games far more than the Lucas Arts games. They had a broader range of genres and a better mix of drama with comic relief as opposed to the whole of the dramas being tongue in cheek. Not that that is bad, but I usually want more than one long running gag. Also, while the Sierra children's games can be enjoyable for adults, you knew that they were aimed at kids. The LA humor always stuck me as rather juvenile. I don't mean this to be taken as bashing the LA games (I DO enjoy them, too), only that for me the Sierra games hold a special place in my heart that the LA games fall short of.

My favorites:

1. King's Quest 6
2. Quest for Glory 4
3. Gabriel Knight 1, 2 and 3 (I can't decide in which order)

As you can tell, I hold the Jane Jensen games in high esteem. The rest would be a mix of both Sierra and non-Sierra games.

[silent_m]

Luna, what operating system are you using to play these older titles, and have you had many issues getting them to run correctly sometimes?

Originally Posted by Luna Sevithiainen

At the moment I'm playing Freddy Pharkas. So funny, but rather difficult, and some pixelhunts. Like it though. I want to play all of Sierra, now just need to lay my hands on a lot of them

[AndreaDraco83]

The best thing, Silent_m, is to use DOS Box. There are plenty of guides on the web on how to do so.

Also, for my fellow completists, there's a list of all the Sierra's adventures I managed to track down. If you find that it's missing some pieces, please help me to complete it

HIRES ADVENTURES
Mission Asteroid
Mystery House
The Wizard and the Princess
Cranston Manor
Ulysses and the Golden Fleece
Softporn Adventure
Time Zone
Dark Crystal
KING’S QUEST
King’s Quest I: The Quest for Crown
King’s Quest II: Romancing the Throne
King’s Quest III: To Heir is Human
King’s Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella
King’s Quest V: The absence maked the heart go yonder!
King’s Quest VI: Heir today, Gone tomorrow!
King’s Quest VII: The Princeless Bride
King’s Quest VIII: Mask of Eternity
SPACE QUEST
Space Quest I: The Sarien Encounter
Space Quest II: Volhaul’s Revenge
Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon
Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
Space Quest V: The Next Mutation
Space Quest 6: The Spinal Frontier
LEISURE SUIT LARRY
Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards
Leisure Suit Larry goes looking for love (in several wrong places)
Leisure Suit Larry 3: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of Pulsating Pectorals
Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out!
Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail!
POLICE QUEST
Police Quest I: In pursuit of Death Angel
Police Quest II: The Vengeance
Police Quest III: The Kindred
Police Quest IV: Open Season
QUEST FOR GLORY
Quest for Glory I: So you want to be a hero?
Quest for Glory II: Trial By Fire
Quest for Glory III: Wages of War
Quest for Glory IV: Shadow of Darkness
Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire
LAURA BOW
Laura Bow I: The Colonel’s Bequest
Laura Bow II: The Dagger of Amon Ra
CONQUESTS
Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail
Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood
ECOQUEST
Ecoquest I: The Search for Cetus
Ecoquest II: The Lost Secret of the Rainforest
GABRIEL KNIGHT
Gabriel Knight I: Sins of the Fathers
Gabriel Knight II: The Beast Within
Gabriel Knight III: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned
OTHER ADVENTURES
Mickey’s Space Adventure
The Black Cauldron
Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood
Mixed-up Mother Goose
Mixed-up Fairy Tales
Gold Rush!
Manhunter: New York
Manhunter: San Francisco
Codename: Iceman
Freddy Pharkas Frontier Pharmacist
Torin’s Passage
Urban Runner
Phantasmagoria I
Phantasmagoria II
Rama
Lighthouse
Shivers 1
Shivers 2
Pepper’s Adventures in Time

[Luna Sevithiainen]

The Dr. Brain series are missing, so
The Castle of Dr. Brain
The Island of Dr. Brain
The Lost Mind of Dr. Brain
The Time warp of Dr. Brain

having played the first 2, I think they fit under the term adventure. Haven't played the third, but this one is said to abandon the adventure game theme and is more of a straight puzzle game, so I am not sure about those.

Oh, and yes, DosBox works best (I think), giving sound and all that. (though I had some issues getting full screen correctly )
But I think a windows 98 pc works better for the windows version of Gabriel Knight and KQ VII, which don't seem to run under DosBox and give no full screen under XP (Have not tried this though)

[QFG]

It's almost impossible to nail down my favorites. I only know that I enjoyed QFG4 the most, and perhaps KQ4 after that. The rest are roughly tied, with the QFG series slightly in front.

[DEMON]

The best for me - Gabriel Knight 1. The other 2 GKs are a little less brilliant, but still great games. I also liked QfG 1 (VGA remake) a lot as well, same goes for QfG 2. Didn´t like QfG 3 too much and I´m playing the 4th episode of the series right now.
KQ is just not my thing, but I only played 3+ for a short while, so maybe I´ll give the series one more chance someday.
When it comes to LSL, I enjoyed playing 1 and 3, but I seriously hate LSL 2. With LSL 5+ it´s the same thing as with KQ 3+.
Colonel´s Bequest is a great game, Laura Bow 2 is way worse, imo.
Space Quest is... cute. Not superb, not bad either.
PQ series has a downhill tendency when it comes to me enjoying it with PQ 1 being very good, PQ 2 worse, PQ 3 weak and PQ 4... remains yet to be finished.
Never played Conquests, Eco Quest just isn´t my cup of tea. Manhunter was kinda weird, as I can recall, so I never got to finish either episode.
So to sum it up - GK series, QfG 1+2, LSL 1+3 and Laura Bow 1 are my favorites.

[inm8#2]

GK series all the way

[DustyShinigami]

Gabriel Knight series for me too. But then, they're the only Sierra adventures i've ever played or ever likely to.

[CrimsonBlue]

Two of my favourite adventure games of all times are Leisure Suit Larry 3 and Police Quest II. But honorable mentions should go to Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail and the Gabriel Knight series - mainly the third.

[cottoncandy]

Thanks guys. Looking forward to trying out many of these suggestions.

[[toj.cc]Phantom]

Space Quest and Gabriel Knight series.

[colpet]

The Gabriel Knight series, especially 2 and 3 were my favorite. Rama, Lighthouse and the Shivers games are the only other Sierra games I've played, and they were very good too.

[laffer]

I love Jane Jensens writing, so GK1&2 and Kings Quest 6 are high on my list.

I also have a special place in my heart for the Space Quest series.. especially Space Quest 3&4.

Police Quest 3 is also very good, in my opinion.

Leisure Suit Larry 3 is another great game, and I loved the bit at the end

[AndreaDraco83]

Originally Posted by laffer

Police Quest 3 is also very good, in my opinion.

I'm a fan of Police Quest as a whole, but I think that the third one really stands out, and I tend to attribute this - once again - to Jane Jensen's writing.