• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Space Quest

Commander Kielbasa

Lieutenant Commander
Red Shirt
Anyone else here love the old Space Quest games? If you haven't heard of them, they were a sci fi comedy series of adventure games produced in the '80s and '90s which parodies a ton of works of Science Fiction, especially Star Trek; The creators loved Trek and (lovingly) riffed on it every chance they could. You play Roger Wilco, Janitor Second Class. A loser. A bum. Who somehow saves the galaxy every time.

space-quest-6-roger-wilco-in-the-spinal-frontier_7.png

sq6-7.png

sq5_wankmeister.jpg

540216-space-quest-iii-the-pirates-of-pestulon-macintosh-screenshot.png

hqdefault.jpg
 
I love them. They currently don't run on my computer, though I know there's a workaround for it, I'm too lazy to implement it, lol ;)

I think Part 4 was always my favorite, I liked part 5 though, since it deviated from the previous games with it's riffs on Star Trek. I never finished part 6, one day I'll have to return to it and complete it.
 
Yeah, I think 4 is the one that was most widely distributed and is how most came to the series. Came with compilations and videocard packages, I believe. I know I got my copy via a CD compilation and it was also the talkie version. It was a dark day when they had cancelled Space Quest 7. Personally, I felt it marked a downturn in the company. I think there was a shift in the company around that time.
 
I love them. They currently don't run on my computer, though I know there's a workaround for it, I'm too lazy to implement it, lol ;)

I think Part 4 was always my favorite, I liked part 5 though, since it deviated from the previous games with it's riffs on Star Trek. I never finished part 6, one day I'll have to return to it and complete it.
Just use ScummVM:
https://www.scummvm.org/
 
I loved Space Quest IV as a kid, but that's because I was unaware of the concept of a "unwinnable" game state. I spent so many hours trying to beat that game. So many hours ...

I can't stand Sierra's sadistic design choices and they ruin what would otherwise be great games. Yeah, I'm a Lucas Arts guy.
 
Yeah, in the second 'Leisure Suit Larry' game there's a spot where you're supposed to grab a knife. The game doesn't point the knife out or anything, it's just part of the background early in the game. Then later you parachute out of a plane (long story) and your chute gets stuck in the tree, without that knife you're game is essentially over, you're forced to load an earlier save and get that damned knife.
 
Ahh yeah, Sierra did have a tendency to put a lot of unwinnable situations into their games by allowing the player to progress while forgetting a key item. More modern games solve that by having scenarios you complete before you move on to the next ones to move the plot along. Would have been easy for Sierra to program in a script to check if an important item is in the player's inventory to prevent them from progressing too far. They also could have the character give a hint when close to the item. On the other hand, they probably wanted the player to have more freedom, but the downside was making the games more difficult than they needed to be.
 
Don't forget the Two Guys from Andromeda are working on a new game too:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Going to basically be a new Space Quest - just legally distinct to avoid litigation.
 
Ahh yeah, Sierra did have a tendency to put a lot of unwinnable situations into their games by allowing the player to progress while forgetting a key item.

I actually didn't mind that too much. Yeah it was a bitch at times, but I always had four or five separate saves in case of such a scenario happening.

Lucasarts adventure games were always more forgiving, I still remember the Sierra games parody at a certain point in 'Secret of Monkey Island.'
 
In Zork 3 (I think), one of the very first choices you can make is how to pick a plant. If you pick the plant incorrectly, it is impossible to win the game... ie the plant dies before you can progress to the end point, I guess they put in other ways to get past that point, but the Fidonet said at the time the easiest way to win was to replay the entire game from the beginning.
 
Used to love all the quest games from Sierra. My fav was Police Quest but Space Quest was probably my 2nd fav, or maybe 3rd after Quest for Glory. Or after Leisure Suit Larry..

They certainly don't make games like that anymore, perfect humor, great parody. Space Quest 5 was just a nerdfest for the Star Trek fan, and who could forget the "Vulgar" nerve pinch in Space Quest 6, where you pinch the nerve on the neck while whispering lines from Tango and Cash.
 
Yeah, my first love was Police Quest too. I was sad when Police Quest 4 aka Open Season was a totally new character. The atmosphere was completely different too. Ironically, they tried to make it more realistic, but in doing so, made it blander. Then that led to the RTS game, and then the full-motion video SWAT game and then the SWAT series.
 
Police Quest 3 is still the best of the series (IMO), and 4 was just meh at best. Space Quest 5 is also my personal favorite as well. Sierra made some fantastic games, as did Dynamix, especially Stellar 7, Heart of China, and of course SQ:5. I love those games.
 
I beat Police Quest 1 (VGA remake) using a walkthrough, but I couldn't beat the original version. For some reason I couldn't figure out the right phrase to use in a part of the game and got frustrated and never went back.

I very nearly beat Police Quest 3, but died at one point and went to reload my save, but accidentally saved my game... on the freaking Game Over Screen!!! What game allows you to save your game on the game over screen, thus ruining your progress?
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top