Good News for KQ Compilation

Message

Shade · #1 Post by **Shade** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 5:21 pm

Just got an email form amazon today telling me that the Kings Quest Compilation had shipped... something I was pretty skeptical about ever getting.

Sorry if this is old news for some, I was thrilled to see it was in the mail.

Fender178 · #2 Post by **Fender178** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 11:17 pm

No its good news. Thanks for posting it. Let us know when it arrives and how good it plays under xp.

ThreeHeadedMonkey · #3 Post by **ThreeHeadedMonkey** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:57 am

A post from VOGONS:

All right, I've got all four boxes this morning. Larry 7 is not included. All collections are in standard small boxes. The artwork seems to be rehash of the past big box collections to the point that Police Quest box says "Special limited edition with 4 products in one box" -- yeah, right, there are so many edition around! Overall, I don't have any problems with exterior appearance. Inside each box is one (in case of King's Quest - two) CD in paper sleeve and a single slip of paper describing some problem with KQ colleciton installer. Apparently, that one is broken and does not handle two CDs well. Nice work, QA team! Optimists among us can treat that as an old-school touch.
Now, DOSBox. The version included is 0.63. The emulator is preconfigured to 8000 cycles and dynamic core. Fullscreen 1024x768 may not be ideal for some games but it's sensible enough. Full DOSBox source code is included on every CD, there is also a copy of GPL. The now-omnipresent license screen in installer starts with rather lengthy paragraph about DOSBox. I would say, they've done what they were expected to do. No copy protection, and CD is not required to play. The installer just extracts games, emulator, and manuals in separate folders. There is very simple launcher which is actually configurable through its own ini file.
Installed game timestamps are seemingly original except for CFG files. Those were modified in March, 2005 (I did not check all of them, but all on Larry collection are like that). So, it did take 18 months for Vivendi to get those collections out. Actually, this is not surprising. Those are budget (low budget) titles and they still had to go through some QA and ESRB certification.

EDIT: The problem with KQ is related to autorun -- the autorun app does not exit after starting setup resulting in odd side effects when switching CDs. Sadly, KQ6 intro is broken, KQ2 message boxes leave traces.

Sounds shitty. Anyone else have some more information?

Angelus3K · #4 Post by **Angelus3K** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 10:40 am

So... technically isnt this what we've been doing for the past 5 years already?

Couldnt those who have the original collections just download DosBox and do exactly this without buying the games again?

I mean you could just get someone who has the new collections to send you the ini and cfg files surely thats not illegal.

Fender178 · #5 Post by **Fender178** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 1:17 pm

Are the windows versions included?

EDIT: Also on the bright side of things by modifiying the games it will make em easier to install under doxbox since the the last relased collection the dos setup wasnt compatable.

MusicallyInspired · #6 Post by **MusicallyInspired** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 6:06 pm

Just as a point of interest, the previous KQ collection's (which included a movie preview of MOE) version of KQ2 also left traces from the message boxes. I have no idea why. And AGISB won't work with it. I just use NAGI for all my AGI games (except for KQ4AGI which doesn't work properly, ie- Rosella is always facing in one direction no matter which way you walk) and KQ2 runs better than in DOS on it and it has no message box traces. It has something to do with the AGI version or something.

That's pretty simple that all they've done is extract everything to a folder instead of a true installation procedure. I like that they have it so you don't need the CDs. I might get the Space Quest one if only for the cool box art (really grabs me, for some reason) but the collections I have are more than good enough for my needs (they're more true to the originals than these, it seems). I wonder why they left LSL7 out?? And why didn't they include MOE on the KQ collection? True it's not really as amazing a game as the others and not really DOS-oriented, but still. Would be nice for people looking to collect all the games to actually GET all the games in one package. Oh well. I have them all, anyway.

Actually my Police Quest Collection (called the SWAT Career Pack) is much more complete than this one in that it contains the old "4 Most Wanted" collection AND SWAT 1, 2, and demos of GK3 and SWAT 3. Resulting in a 6 CD compilation. It was called the SWAT Career Pack.

By any chance, does the KQ collection have the AGDI remakes on them I wonder? Actually I guess we should be asking the AGD's that since they'd probably know.

#7 Post by **Erpy** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 6:15 pm

No, our versions of the games are not included in the KQ collection.

I guess those collections are on CD's, right? A reason why LSL7 and MOE aren't included could be the fact they didn't want to add an extra CD. For MOE, an additional reason would be that it's not a SCI game, but makes use of a unique engine. MOE is also an older game and would require some patching in order to be rereleased, but Dosbox provides no option here. That could be a reason why they didn't go with the QFG collection...QFG5 fills 2 CD's and would need to be patched in order to run on NT-based systems.

seraphimdreamer777 · #8 Post by **seraphimdreamer777** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:18 am

well i guess when i get kings quest collection its gonna be tucked safely away with my doom collection :D

Shade · #9 Post by **Shade** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 6:12 pm

I'm reasonably pleased with the KQ Collection. I already had the 1 - 6 version that I had in the late 90's and thanks to the patience of the people on this forum got dosbox to run all of those games but it is nice to have a simpler way of running it.

When I heard about the installation bug on here I was concerned but the one thin piece of paper you get in the box has instructions on painlessly installing the games.

Of note: I was surprised that the original KQ1 was not included and only the remake appears in this collection.

In the last collection of the games I believe the version of KQ3 is a later one in which the action freezes as you begin typing (someone correct me if I'm wrong). This one includes the early version in which, for certain scenes where you have to do something quickly, you have to type out "Show mirror to medusa" before you even step onto the screen or you won't have time.

I thought it was odd that KQ8 didn't appear in this collection but wasn't too upset as, with a bit of patching, I can run that one in Windows XP just fine. The absence of LSL7 or Larry's casino, on the other hand, disappoints me greatly as I never got that one on its own and it's usually pretty $$$ to get it on eBay. I do hope they release a QFG collection, not because I need it but because I'd like people to have access to the games legally without paying an arm and a leg to someone on eBay.

The other added benefit of this collection is that I am finally inspired to try out the Police Quest series, something I never did as a kid and was never interested in spending a lot of time tracking down copies of online. Is anyone else trying something out for the first time because of this collection?

Quest For Glory Fan · #10 Post by **Quest For Glory Fan** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:23 pm

I think when I go pick mine up I'll be trying a lot of the KQs for the first time. I have yet to even play AGDI's or IA's remakes although I've dabbled in them. I'll also be actively trying to beat the PQs which I've always just messed around with before untill I got stuck. I just wish there was more VGA to be done.

MusicallyInspired · #11 Post by **MusicallyInspired** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 2:54 am

In the last collection of the games I believe the version of KQ3 is a later one in which the action freezes as you begin typing (someone correct me if I'm wrong). This one includes the early version in which, for certain scenes where you have to do something quickly, you have to type out "Show mirror to medusa" before you even step onto the screen or you won't have time.

Actually, the "action-freezing" has nothing to do with the version. KQ4 and Gold Rush (the last 2 AGI games which both have the latest AGI engine) don't freeze when you type either. It's dependent on the graphics driver I think. Way back when I had an old 286 with a Hercules Monochrome monitor it would freeze the screen and have a little typing window pop up in all the AGI games just like the SCI0 games. But that same game (same version) played with an EGA/VGA card doesn't put up a pop-up window. I found that interesting when I played my Sierra games on that 286 for the first time. I still have that Hercules Monochrom graphics card lying around, actually. Although the 286 motherboard has mysteriously vanished. I used to keep it hanging on my wall

.

Kurdt · #12 Post by **Kurdt** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 7:21 am

I first played KQ5 and KQ6 (along with a bevy of old adventure games) on my 286. I wanted Windows with a passion but that computer didn't have the ability to put it on there. Looking back, things were so much more charming when it was just me and a DOS interface. The same could be said of my 386 with Windows 3.1 or my 486 with Windows 95. *sigh* There was a time...

seraphimdreamer777 · #13 Post by **seraphimdreamer777** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:04 am

i checked the walmart web site and the games still say preorder now and kings quest is listed to be released on the 22nd the rest said the 18th of which already passed was there a shiping problem with walmart by any chance and if so do any game stores have them for $20 each

MusicallyInspired · #14 Post by **MusicallyInspired** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 1:29 am

I just looked at my local Staples (Business Depot) and they don't have it in there. I haven't seen anywhere else.

Fender178 · #15 Post by **Fender178** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 2:15 am

Well I should get my collections on monday since the package left the primary post office thats in the part of the state where I live.

seraphimdreamer777 · #16 Post by **seraphimdreamer777** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 4:27 am

so has anyone seen them in any stores yet or just online

Fender178 · #17 Post by **Fender178** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 3:47 pm

I wouldnt know. The stores that I thought would have em keep getting pushed back and thats the online stores and there is really no difference between the online store and the regular stores like target and walmart. well so far the I have seen the collections on online stores only (ex amazon.com)

Blackthorne519 · #18 Post by **Blackthorne519** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 7:00 pm

This is a very worthless collection for those of us who have our original releases and/or previous compilation releases. Just to let you know. Unless you're a hardcore collector, you needn't buy this if you own them already. That's my personal opinion after getting "The Space Quest" collection.

However, this is a nice set to introduce friends to the series of games we all know and love.

Bt

Coreywhompus · #19 Post by **Coreywhompus** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 9:42 pm

I'm pretty sure I know the answer but I wanted to ask, are the voice overs intact in both KQ6 and 7?

seraphimdreamer777 · #20 Post by **seraphimdreamer777** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 3:04 am

Unfortunately i can only get mine in stores bein that i live with my mom and i am kind of a bum that needs to get a job but my mom is scared of credit cards so i cant get the games online and since i dont have a job i have no credit so i cant get a card so hopfully wal mart will get it soon

Swift · #21 Post by **Swift** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 11:36 am

The KQ and SQ series did very well for the sales. KQ even beat WOW.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_i ... tory=10976

PC
North America: 1. King's Quest Collection (Vivendi Games), 2. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 3. Company of Heroes (THQ), 4. Space Quest Collection (Vivendi Games), 5. The Sims 2: Glamour Life Stuff (EA Games).

Japan: 1. Phantasy Star Universe (Sega), 2. Sakura Taisen Premium Edition (Sega), 3. Muv-Luv Alternative (Age), 4. Sim People: Expansion Collection 3 (EA Games), 5. Final Fantasy XI: Treasures of Aht Urhgan (Square Enix).

UK: 1. Broken Sword: The Angel of Death (THQ), 2. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts), 3. The Sims 2: Glamour Life Stuff (EA Games), 4. World of Warcraft (Blizzard), 5. The Sims 2: Open for Business (EA Games).

In a surprising twist, the adventure game compilation King's Quest Collection takes first place from the nigh-invulnerable World of Warcraft in the United States this week. Vivendi Games' Space Quest Collection also manages to place in America's top 5 -- a testament to the strength of nostalgia among PC gamers, many of whom have long requested Windows XP-compatible versions of these popular Sierra classics.

MusicallyInspired · #22 Post by **MusicallyInspired** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 11:40 pm

Wow. That IS quite a statement!

Vildern · #23 Post by **Vildern** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 12:12 am

Thanks, Swift! This is the best news I've heard all week!

Vroomfondel · #24 Post by **Vroomfondel** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 12:39 am

Interesting as it is, I find it more disturbing than cause for celebration.

Vildern · #25 Post by **Vildern** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 1:03 am

Why, Vroomfondel?

Good News for KQ Compilation

Good News for KQ Compilation

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