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Old 07-12-2005, 03:38 PM   #21
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Originally Posted by Adventurous One
Okay, I'll tell what the endings like, but would the mods prefer it if I PM you with the ending?
Or just use spoiler tags.

[ spoiler ]spoiler text goes here[ /spoiler ] - but without the spaces between the brackets and the word "spoiler".
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Old 07-12-2005, 03:48 PM   #22
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Originally Posted by fov
Or just use spoiler tags.

[ spoiler ]spoiler text goes here[ /spoiler ] - but without the spaces between the brackets and the word "spoiler".
Ok Thanks FOv You Are the great FOv
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Old 07-12-2005, 05:16 PM   #23
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What's VSB?
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Old 07-12-2005, 05:28 PM   #24
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VSB = Vohaul Strikes Back. It's another Space Quets fan game in the works (one of three fangames currently being worked on, to the best of my knowledge).

The page is here if you're interested: http://vohaulstrikesback.com/
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Old 07-12-2005, 06:21 PM   #25
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Originally Posted by BerserkerTails
VSB = Vohaul Strikes Back. It's another Space Quets fan game in the works (one of three fangames currently being worked on, to the best of my knowledge).

The page is here if you're interested: http://vohaulstrikesback.com/
OK, so there's SQ7 and VSB (both sites last updated in January, it looks like). For finished games, I know of Replicated and The Lost Chapter. Am I missing any?
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Old 07-12-2005, 06:37 PM   #26
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Vohaul's mines. It's kind of an alternate Space Quest 2. Instead of crashing due to lack of fuel, Roger Wilco is actually transported to Vohaul's mines on the planet from SQ2. He then has to escape and destroy Vohaul's evil salesmen.

http://www.vohauls-mines.com/
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Old 07-12-2005, 06:44 PM   #27
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Adventure games, in the eyes of Vivendi Universal, are not profitable. They believe that if they release a Space Quest 7 game, they will not make money. No amount of pressure from the fans is going to prompt them to make a new Space Quest, because the number of gamers out there far outnumber the amount of Space Quest fans. Do I wish they would still make adventures? Yes. Can I see their side of the argument? Yes. While current market trends show adventure games on the rise again after a long period, big companies like Vivendi Universal are not willing to take a chance on it. This is why we get so many clones of successful games instead of fresh, original, innovative ones from the big companies; they know people will buy them, and as an entrepreneur, their primary concern is to A) satisfy their own financial needs by way of satisfying the highest number of consumers. The fact that it would make the fans happy is never going to make a profit-oriented business produce a product that will cost millions of dollars to plan, staff, program, market, patch, and reprint. I'd love to see a SQ7 or an MI5 (which, of course, is not Vivendi, but you see my point), but the fact remains that it is unlikely to happen while adventures are still considered a risky endeavor. In my estimation, LSL8 was put out because, stripped of its adventure qualities, it could provide the gaming public with a product as desirable as explosions and submachine guns: SEX (and yes, I saw the opportunites for the "put out" and "stripped" jokes, but I decided to ignore them...until this point...damn.) If the LSL series hadn't involved sex, do you think Vivendi ever would have cranked out a followup in '04? I don't.

Until adventure games are as marketable as the current crop of FPS and RPG clones (and looking at the Hype-o-Meter on this website, I'd say that the universal appeal of adventure titles is on the rise again), you'll never see a Space Quest 7.

EDIT: By the way, Filmman, the things that led to QFG5 were mainly A) QFG4's ending was extremely abrupt and left the game without a sense of closure and B) Dragon Fire had always been a planned entry in the series, while Wages of War (QFG3) had not. Wages of War was inserted between Trial by Fire and Shadows of Darkness because the programmers believed the character was not ready for such an abrupt shift to a dark atmosphere from TBF to SOD (there is even an ad for SOD at the end of TBF calling it "Quest for Glory III"). The programmers had a story planned for the fifth entry, so a portion of the work was already done when people began clamoring for a more fitting end to the series. Had the previous circumstances not occurred, I don't know whether or not we would ever have seen QFG5.
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Last edited by NemelChelovek; 07-12-2005 at 06:50 PM.
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Old 07-12-2005, 08:55 PM   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NemelChelovek
EDIT: By the way, Filmman, the things that led to QFG5 were mainly A) QFG4's ending was extremely abrupt and left the game without a sense of closure and B) Dragon Fire had always been a planned entry in the series, while Wages of War (QFG3) had not.
I challenge.

Spoiler space for two games which are respectively twelve and seven years old... which is sad.

Spoiler:
The ending of QFG4 is not abrupt. The QFG3 ending, on the other hand, is very abrupt (probably because this was Sierra in the early nineties and they knew they could get away with doing cliffhangers). The same basic thing happens to the hero at the end of both games, only it's done it two very different ways. The ending of 4 is a long, protracted, triumphant sequence of every character talking about how much they love you and what you did for them. That's just not closure, that's arbitrary closure. That's more than you get from most games. Admittedly, that sequence is only closure for that particular game. But then the QFG series was always pretty episodic, just with recurring characters. But even with QFG4, you get some payoff to some series-long subplots; like Ad Avis coming back. More importantly, Erana, who up to that point had been in the very background of every other game finally gets brought up in a major way and there's some serious payoff there. The only part of the ending which can possibly be called abrupt is the hero getting teleported out at the end. And that's not abrupt; at least not in the same way as QFG3. Throughout the game you have the dreams in which you overhear Erasmus and Fenrus talking about pulling you out of there. It's not sprung at you at the last second, it's built up to. It doesn't come as a shock; again, it's a payoff. And unlike the QFG3 cliffhanger, you know exactly where you're going, who's taking you and why you're going to Silmaria. But even then none of that matters. There's no real suspense; the point of the ending isn't the set-up for QFG5, it's - and I think there's dialogue at the end saying exactly this - that a hero's work is never done. You're a hero and you go on having adventures because that's what you're supposed to do. That's your series finale. It wraps up everything and doesn't force the plot into some arbitrary final conclusion but rather lets it end naturally and logically.

Which is why QFG5 was such a huge disappointment to me. Because it's basically fan fiction. Instead of the QFG4 ending, which I think is rather clever, and even moreso as a series finale (the same applies to GK3, really), this one goes seriously out of it's way to tell you this is the last game ever, we're done, really, that's it, go home. The End. You get married and you save the world and now you're the king and you live happily ever after. That's it, no more games, no more adventures, you're done. And it also feels like fan fiction because it's the Quest for Glory cast reunion. Pretty much every important character comes back and it doesn't work. It seriously strains credibility. But it's done because it's the last game and it is pretty clearly designed exclusively for the fans. And another thing, the Katrina/Erana ressurrection? That completely undermines QFG4 and it doesn't happen for any other reason than 'oh, you liked that character? Sorry we killed her! Here she is, she's back! You can marry her, even!'. QFG5 isn't written to be a good story. It's written to be fan service, and consequently it ends up wholly unsatisfying.


It wasn't really my intention to aim all this at you, more at the 'QFG4 is abrupt and inconclusive' which irritates me, partly because I never ever see the other side of that argument.

this is a little off-topic, isn't it?
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Old 07-12-2005, 09:29 PM   #29
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You make very good points, Duncan, and you've achieved what is generally a rare thing: changing my opinion on something involving storytelling. When I think about it now, the "A hero's work is never done" point would have been a very fitting ending to the series, keeping very much in the spirit of the series. You are also more qualified than I, because I've never played QFG5; I know only what I've read from various interviews and news sources. The only other argument I can make for #5's existence is the one about it being planned as originally part of the series, as the fourth entry. It seemed clear from the first game that they were planning to include a dragon as a big, big threat from the entry in the manual (Dragon: Avoid at all costs), which was one of the the only things they hadn't followed up on by #4, the other being the oft-mentioned but never-shown realm of Silmaria (mentioned in every manual).
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Old 07-12-2005, 10:49 PM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NemelChelovek
The only other argument I can make for #5's existence is the one about it being planned as originally part of the series, as the fourth entry. It seemed clear from the first game that they were planning to include a dragon as a big, big threat from the entry in the manual (Dragon: Avoid at all costs), which was one of the the only things they hadn't followed up on by #4, the other being the oft-mentioned but never-shown realm of Silmaria (mentioned in every manual).
I'm not so sure how much of QFG5 (as it is now) was really planned - you're right about the threat of a dragon being built up, but it seems a bit of an anticlimax after the enemy of QFG4, doesn't it? I have no idea what was going through the mind of the Coles when they were designing QFG4, but my guess would be that while they wanted to make another game, they weren't confident they would be. That's pure speculation, but there is a definite finality to QFG4, it isn't just another episode in the series. I think they weren't sure if it was the end or not, so they played it safe and brought most of the series' plot points to a conclusion while still leaving room for the next game.

The Coles, if they didn't have an overall storyarc completely mapped out, definitely had a direction of where they were going, I think. Obviously, as you brought up, they knew what was going to happen in QFG4 as early as QFG2. And in each game there were always hints about the next game, usually someone would tell you about the location and some of the problems there.

But if there was a plan for a QFG5, and there probably was, I think it changed. I highly doubt it's the same game it would have been if it had been made in 1995. For a while there, QFG was dead, and the Coles must of known they were very, very lucky to get that fifth game. And realistically, it probably wouldn't do sell spectacularly, so it would also be last game. QFG5 feels like "This is our last game, and you guys are going to have a blast!" rather than "This is the series finale and we're going to bring everything to its conclusion". And they couldn't really do the latter anyway, because QFG4 already did most of that.

QFG5 exists in large part because of a huge fan campaign. And I think the Coles were humbled by that and in return made a game full of things fans would want to see. So you have all your old favourite characters returning and you have very definite 'closure'. But from a storytelling perspective, it doesn't work. It's all very artifical and contrived, because it deviates from whatever that series-wide plan was and instead the story feels like the poll results to "What would YOU like to see in the last Quest for Glory game?"
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Old 07-13-2005, 02:37 AM   #31
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Somebody stole the Space Quest 7 thread. Has anyone seen it? I know it used to be around here somewhere...

On a SQ-related note, I see that Vonster is a member of the Space Quest 2X game, Vohaul's Mines. That's great. Vonster's The Lost Chapter was pretty cool.

I just downloaded Replicated yesterday on a whim and, seriously, got sucked in to the tune of "dude, where did those three hours just go?" It's amazing how much fun I can still have playing an AGI-style game with a text parser.
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Old 07-13-2005, 10:25 AM   #32
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Okay, for those of you who would like to know the ending of VSB:

Spoiler:
The ending of VSB has Sludge Vohaul, Roger Wilco's arch rival and nemisis changing diapers for Roger Jr. IMHO, this ending just doesn't add anything to the series. I feel Vohaul should die with (some) honour.


I feel that this game is just a piece of bad fanfiction. Believe me, I've had my experience with bad fanfiction, having written it before.
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Old 07-13-2005, 11:11 AM   #33
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Adventurous One
Okay, for those of you who would like to know the ending of VSB
Are the makers of VSB okay with you posting the ending to their game? 'Cuz if it were my game, I'd be pretty unhappy about that.
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Old 07-13-2005, 11:59 AM   #34
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chapter11studios
Are the makers of VSB okay with you posting the ending to their game? 'Cuz if it were my game, I'd be pretty unhappy about that.
That's what spoiler tags are for.

I see where you're coming from, though. The game not having been released complicates the issue. (But I did say it was okay for him to post it here with spoiler tags.)
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Old 07-13-2005, 01:05 PM   #35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Adventurous One
Okay, for those of you who would like to know the ending of VSB:

I feel that this game is just a piece of bad fanfiction. Believe me, I've had my experience with bad fanfiction, having written it before.

I think they change the Ending I think.
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Old 07-13-2005, 03:26 PM   #36
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fov
That's what spoiler tags are for.
Yeah, I just think, spoiler tag or no, it's probably a secret that they don't want the audience for the game to know. Now that I know it, however, I agree that it's lame...
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Old 07-13-2005, 03:49 PM   #37
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Adventurous One I hope they will not get mad at you for putting the Ending on the forum.
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Old 07-13-2005, 04:01 PM   #38
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R. W. died years ago.

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Old 07-13-2005, 04:22 PM   #39
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Quote:
Originally Posted by samIamsad
R. W. died years ago.

R. W. did not Die He lives all around with Space Quest fans That why we care about Roger Wilco And the space quest series
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Old 07-13-2005, 06:19 PM   #40
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Right on Filmman! That's the true Space Quest spirit! Roger Wilco would be proud to know that there are still people on Earth who know he's alive. As to my posting the ending, I don't think the VSB heads will get too mad at me. I'm a known VSB hater on other boards, and if they do start flaming me, I'm okay with that .
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