Sierra Quest Collections

[A Black Falcon]

February the 22th, 1999 (which is called 'Chainsaw Monday' by Scott Murphy

I remember 'Black Monday' well, it was very sad... :( :(

... you just learned about this now? I mean, haven't I mentioned that stuff many times before, and even linked articles and stuff?

They screwed up big time. They didn't even put in the original version of KQ1 (which is among the various Sierra games that work just fine in XP!), just the enhanced remake they made when they released KQ4. I like that remake, but where's the original?

I actually don't have a big problem with this. While a collection that included every version of every game would obviously be best for collectors (who probably already own most of the games included anyway, else why would they care?), it makes a lot of sense that a standard collection would simply include one version of each game... either the best version or the easiest one to port, depending on how committed the team making the collection is. Though it does often end up being the latter of those, that isn't always a huge problem...

KQ1: So they included the remade version... so? Is the original one actually better in some way, or is that pure nostalgia speaking? Collections don't listen to that, or else, for instance, Super Mario Allstars would have had a "NES Graphics" mode...

But really, how often do collections include multiple versions of games? Very, very rarely... Sierra did for some of their 'Collection Series' titles in the late '90s, but that was the real Sierra, not Vivendi Universal Games' "Sierra" label... and besides, back then all versions were playable the same. Now, you'd have to port those Win3.1 games to XP to make them playable, right? I mean, do the Windows titles actually work in XP? With like how KQ5 requires 256 color 640x480 to even start in Windows, and with all the bugs with getting the sound working (yeah, it's even worse in DOS, but the Windows versions can be a pain too at times...)? And with those awful blue bars on the top of the screen all the time? No, DOS is better. And a LOT easier to make working in XP. :)

I also tried the KQ7 DOS version. The cursors are still black and white most of the time. Everything's high res, which was something they pretty much had to do, so no "downgrades". About the only thing I can say about it is there isn't a title bar, which is nice. As for music, I like using my latest sound card's midi functions to vastly improve the sound over the poor midi the games were originally designed for. I think the DOS versions could do this as well, though unfortunatly I can't seem to get that level of quality I normally expect out of the DOS versions of these KQ games.

KQ5, well, the cursor issue is still there. Admittedly the DOS versions are full color and have more "character", but it's just easier and more precise for me to use the high res cursors. At least there's no high res portraits to have lowered in that game.

KQ5-DOS may have huge cursors (and it does), but they look so much better than those awful Windows ones... instead of maybe too large, they're way, way too small, and as I said artistically are awful...

As for the music, KQ7-DOS definitely has MIDI, I was listening to it when I played the game... I don't think I noticed a difference between the music in Windows and DOS. Can't check it though, as the Windows one requires the CD (there is no file you can edit to make it look only at the HDD, unlike the DOS version -- another flaw with the Windows versions... -- KQ5 excepted, that one's Windows one does work off the HDD once modified. :)) and I don't have it here.

I have NO reason to get the KQ collection at this point. I have a superior collection already, DOSbox is free, and so are great frontends for it that already have sets of custom profiles for these very games.

I don't have KQs 2, 3, 4, or 6, SQs 1-4 or 6, or any of the Police Quest or LSL games, but I'm not sure if I'm getting any of these... KQ7 was mostly fun, but 5 was so annoying that I don't know if I'd actually like 6, and 2-4 are running in 1's engine, which is really basic... as for SQ (the other major one) 5 is great, and I'd like 6, so I'd consider that one... maybe. 5 is incredibly frusterating though... all Sierra adventure games are, really. That's why I'm not sure how many of them I actually want... :D