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What was the most difficult Sierra game ever?

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 4:45 am
by Ibanezrg82
This is a very broad based poll.
I have included some of the games I thought were hardest, in terms of puzzles.
The poll would just be too large if I included all of them.

Other is a big option in this poll, PLEASE EXPLAIN if you vote for "Other Sierra Title."


Forms of cheating:
If you used an official strategy guide, unofficial walkthrough, or even the ancient Sierra hint line, please take that into account as to why you used them.

Hint guides and walkthroughs are cheating more than the old hint line, because it was a 900 number, and you probably used it for only a puzzle or two you just could not solve. You didn't have the money to stay on the line and get all the answers like you could with a book you paid some bucks for.
Word of mouth is another factor too. "Hey dude, how do I take care of the Fire Elemental? The game keeps ending at day 7!"
If your friend beat the game, he/she was pretty much a free strategy guide.

All in all, if you were stuck for a while and had to resort to drastic methods such as these, just explain why.

If you stuck it out, and used no assistance whatsoever, feel free to boast.

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 8:11 pm
by Ghost_Rider
I voted for OTHER.  My vote would be for QFG4... and the reason is because it was such a pain in the butt to get it working and get through all of the program bugs (which now can be compensated for by using the NRS patches/timer fixes).  However back before I was aware those existed, before I had internet service, this game drove me nuts.  It was challenging enough in working condition but the bugs made it that much more difficult.

Anyway I am sure you had intended for this to be a poll based on gameplay and not include technical issues, however this was what came to mind first for me.   ;)

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:49 am
by Ibanezrg82
No, Ghost_Rider, I couldn't think of a better vote.

You did have to find a happy medium with Shadows, some of us were more fortunate than yourself to have the right mix in our PC.

Perfect answer, nothing made a game harder than random crashes and throwing furniture at your PC, which did make the game harder because it wouldn't turn on and the monitor was shattered. :lol

Ghost_Rider, have you ever tried Shadows disk version through DOS?
The game really has fewer bugs through DOS, I don't know what OS you play it though. The Windows version is chock full of bugs, though.

Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 2:02 am
by Ghost_Rider
Hi there,

I have both the disk version and the CD version - I primarily play the DOS version from the CD.  I use DOSBox to play it and have found that DOSBox in combination with having the NewRisingSun patches work best on my current machine.  I'm able to play through without running into any errors.   :D

It runs pretty well with the NRS patches without DOSBox, but the sound is totally messed up.  The gameplay is fine though... but since part of what makes QFG4 so great is the music and sound effects, I run it with DOSBox.

On my previous computer (Pentium III) I found the Windows version worked best, although error 52 in the swamp prevented me from completing the game.  Before that on my 486 33MHz I used the DOS disk version and had issues with that too.  Anyway, I'm all set now.   :)

Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 7:41 am
by Ibanezrg82
I never needed a patch in an original Dos game on a 486, altough I am truly converted to the Windows version.

Error 52 in the swamp?

With the Chernovy, right?

I found a simple way around this. Not too simple though. You have to have magic.

Spell the hell out of the Chernovys by the grave of the monk.
Flame dart is best because it uses the least magic, and if you imported your skill is probably higher than the game standard.
Blast the hell out of them until they die, then quickly raid the tomb.
Go north with the glide spell and get the hell out of THAT bug.

I think that was your bug, right? For the Windows version, before all of your uneeded downloaded patches.
Screw DOSBOX, you should format your old 486 and set it up for pre WIN 95 games.

Anyway, ignore that.
What current setup do you use that you can play Shadows without bugs?
I am not a technofreak so I don't know.
I just work with what I have.

Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 6:23 pm
by Kloreep
No technofreakery necessary. ;) All you have to do is download the QFG4CD patch from http://www.geocities.com/belzorash/ and unzip the contents into your QFG4CD folder. (I believe it'll work for either DOS or Windows? However, it only works for the CD version, not floppy.) Boom, you can slip down the slope anyday. :) It should fix the swamp crash too.

I agree with Ghost_Rider that DOSBox is best, though. It provides the most controlled environment, which I know I personally need on my machine lest the game run too fast to be enjoyable. (It'll work for me with the NRS patch, far fewer crashes if it all, but timing stuff like combat is still too fast. It helps make sure the sound runs okay too.)

Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 12:58 am
by Ghost_Rider
My 486 is fried unfortunately.  Even back then, the 486 did give me problems with the swamp, yes.  I tried everything, gliding, jumping, use acrobatics, but could not get past that error.  Anyway, I'm quite happy with DOSBox and the NRS patches (from the link Kloreep provided).

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 10:57 am
by Ibanezrg82
I am one of the weird ones that look as these old bugs like they are a part of the game.
DOSBOX is cheating to me, you could have your system working with a 486, but you had to set it up. DOS.

I loved DOS. DOS was cool.
DOSBOX is a travesty.

The way I look at it, any recent patch to these games is not official.

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 1:29 pm
by Erpy
They may have been part of the game, before the patches came out, but I don't feel I'm destroying the classics when I'm patching those bugs out of there...especially since the fixed games are closer to what the Coles wanted the audience to play than the "original" games. Nor do I feel like I'm "not playing the game for real" when I'm not playing it on a computer that's more than 1.5 decade old and for which there are no longer spare parts available.

Image

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:53 am
by Ibanezrg82
I know, I'm just weird in a purist way like that.

Sorry.

Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 6:25 pm
by haradan
For me, SQ6 was the most difficult. I found the puzzles illogical at many points,not to mention the pill puzzle near the end. That game took me forever to try and try and try many things, and I finally ended using a walkthrough (something which I absolutely refuse to do in normal circumstances).

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 7:29 am
by Ibanezrg82
Good point haradan.

I actually did get pissed at that game, and was one of the few I sabotaged my brother in beating first.
After all these years, I still feel bad for deleting his saved games.

Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 11:26 am
by BrianR
Ghost Rider I agree lol.  I spent more time trying to get it to work than acutal play time.  

Hey where is QFG 4.5?  :rollin

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 1:00 pm
by kitten
I'd say KQ5, because it was so easy to miss one little thing and then be able to play for a long time until you're missing whatever item and you get stuck. Then, you have no idea that the reason you can't pass the yeti halfway through the game is because you didn't find a shoe in the desert at the very start of the game.

[spoiler]Because you need the shoe to throw at the cat. The cat runs away hurt (poor cat!) and the rat is able to escape. The rat chews you out of the ropes tying you up at the inn. The inn is where you get the lamb. If you don't have the lamb in the mountains when you get hungry, you can eat the pie instead, but then you don't have a pie to throw at the yeti further on, so you're stuck.[/spoiler]

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 3:26 am
by Jack Sawyer
King's quest 4.  Not only were there a plethora of timed/monster baesd puzzles that could drive you nuts (troll in the cave, ogre.)  But you invariably met them in awkward as hell situations.  The troll in the effing dark of the cave in particular was always frustrating.  Especially that point wher eyou had to put the board down to cross the effing chasm.

The dumbest part of the game I felt was that every time one of those monsters showed up, your only recourse was to WALK. SLOWLY. AWAY. (of coruse this was true of virutally every king's quest game..)

Edit:  Though I admit the rocky moutnain path in KQ3 was nearly as bad, and many of the "timed encounter" cases in KQ5 were nearly as bad too (partiulcarily that blue mutant thingie in Mordack's castle towards the end that you stunned with the bag of peas)

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 7:25 am
by Ibanezrg82
KQ4 wins in difficulty over KQ5.

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 11:55 am
by kitten
Well, KQ4 was tough too. How are you supposed to know that

[spoiler]Being swallowed by a shark is bad (as you would expect) but a whale is good, but only if you're coming BACK from the island so that you have the feather, and then you have to not only hope you got the fish already, but also know to look for an invisible bridle. What is it with KQ games and bridles, anyway? First throwing it over a snake in KQ2 (Sierra version) (at least that one's optional), now this![/spoiler]

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 5:53 am
by Ibanezrg82
So Kq5 was harder for you.

For me, it had its moments.
I had a "free" strategy guide for KQ5, a friend, so I can't debate you on that.

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 5:52 am
by Quest For Glory Fan
for me it's between Space Quest 6 and Gabriel Knight 2. So far in Sam and Max I've had a hard time in some spots. No walk through so far but I'm a sucker for them after all. Holding out as long as I can.

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:39 am
by Ibanezrg82
Good choices QFGfan, but Sam and Max is not a Sierra game, thus not included in the poll.

We could talk Interplay LucasArts if you want! Hell, start a new poll.

Ringworld and the Dig were both great games.

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:03 pm
by Quest For Glory Fan
on my box it doesn't say anything about Lucas arts on Sam and Max  :p

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 6:02 am
by Ibanezrg82
Lucas Arts, the first Sam and Max adventure.

Check it out, a real classic. I love the Snuckeys.

Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 8:49 pm
by Quest For Glory Fan
ya I have it, I'm just saying I'm playing the new one.

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 1:16 pm
by Klytos
For me the one I had the most trouble with was Police Quest I. But I was pretty young at the time and ended up buying the hint book to finish it.

Codename Iceman was pretty hard too, the ending bit in the sub.

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 6:17 am
by Ibanezrg82
I have never seen an early Sierra hintbook.
They were black and white, right?

The earliest official hintguide I remember was for KQ6.

Codename Iceman I would feel better about, if I had the box and the book.