MusicallyInspired

This is really tough....I love replaying SQ4 to experience the atmosphere of the backgrounds and music, I love the isolation and DIY feel of fizimg the ship and escaping the trash freighter in SQ3, I also love exploring the exotic Labion planet with dangers everywhere. Think I'm going to have to go with SQ1 AGI, though. Such a feeling of adventure journeying through one crazy situation to the next. It feels like it's the game that covers the most distance so it feels longer, even though it probably isn't. Great atmosphere, too.

What time is this gonna be anyway again? I suck at time differences. How many hours away is it? Sorry you can't make it, Frede. :(

Ugh, I had to live with PC Speaker sound for AGI games for far too long, it was really annoying. Especially when I recalled hearing more instruments as a kid (we used to own a Tandy 1000). I was overjoyed when Dosbox came out and emulated it perfectly. ScummVM's Tandy sound is not 100% accurate, while DOSBox's is near perfect. I was just reading the undither thread at the SCUMMVM forums again a few weeks ago. What an ego-centric fiasco that was. That and the "we'll come to the rescue of the Mega-Tokyo SCI/AGI fangame community!" attitude while not even acknowledging Sciprogramming.com's existence and basically ignoring requests to support SCI fangames and new SCI implementations we had created (like mp3 music) all still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Not everyone is like that there (in fact one dev in particular I believe stirred the pot in that undither thread on purpose to bring focus to the issue which I tend to think started internally), but I think Scummvm has gone to a lot of their heads. Anyway, I always prefer Dosbox because it emulates the original system that the original authentic files work on 99% perfectly. Scummvm and other virtual machines/emulators reinterpret the game data files. Usually fairly well, but they can be biased. Sarien, for instance, makes the interface look like the Amiga interpreter which I'm not a fan of. And I've already mentioned the incorrect Tandy sound. Also, it's impossible to get some SCI games to play MIDI equivalent sfx instead of the lo-fi digital ones, which are just 11khz mono 8-bit versions of the MT-32 sounds, which whether you have MUNT or a real one, is not very nice to have to deal with. Also, there are still speed issues with SCI1.1 games where animations that depend on cpu cycles are still too fast. Strangely, though, SCI1.0 games don't have this issue. I just see too many conflicts with my original experience. It works in a pinch, and is definitely the most portable method if you're trying to play on multiple platforms, but Dosbox is still always the better option for me. Best sound, best replication, most familiar, best experience.

What I don't understand is the intro of SQ4 states that Roger is returning to Xenon from his last adventure. Did he go through another black hole? What are the chances he'd end up back in his original dimension and not some random one of infinite possibilities? /overanalyzing

Basically the animations. Items, props, actors, etc. Anything that's not a background.

You generally won't see outsourced work credited. But I'm curious about this as well. I actually don't remember where I heard that it was outsourced. I don't know why I would believe it if it didn't come from an official source, but I could be wrong. Must have been a long time ago I heard it.

I saw that video of Sommers' a little while back. I was quite impressed.

I prefer the solid green before the cycling palette, myself.

I can almost guarantee that the preference at large would be due to the easier p&c interface rather than a preference of VGA's art direction over EGA's. Or even the simple fact that it's VGA and higher resolution, has a soundtrack, etc. Any bias towards the actual artistic direction would originate from that.

You're one of those silly "less is more" people, aren't you? :p

If you mean cheap as in financially, yes it is. If you mean cheap as in low quality, I've already refuted that with the MI2 example. Again, I don't believe Koreans make crap artwork. Their artwork is fine. I simply mean that it was outsourced and therefore by definition not part of the team. They got some quick artwork (that is more than competent in quality) to fish out a quick cash grab. They could have outsourced to China, Russia, New Zealand, or New Jersey. My reaction would be the same, unless the artwork had somehow randomly lived up to the style of the other games. Really it's not their fault at all, though. Like I said before, the art director for the project signed off on everything. It's really his fault.

Well, if you want to look at it that way you're also prejudice against the EGA version simply by the fact that you prefer the VGA version. Personal bias and opinion count as prejudice in that light. Scott and Mark are also prejudice against VGA in the same way. They're not assumptions. There's a difference between being contracted to be on a development team and being outsourced for a bit of art work or sound work etc (note the etymology: OUTsourced, as in "outside the team"). If they were a part of the team their names would be in the credits. That's something you don't get when people outsource to you. Especially if you're not independent. Of course I'd prefer a version made by the two Guys as opposed to what we got. If that's prejudice then so be it. But it's just personal taste. I prefer the art direction of the EGA version simply because I think it's more faithful to the series (being the first game, obviously). I've already given valid reasons why I believe the series has a cohesive style, despite slight differences due to using multiple artists. I don't hate the VGA version. It's a nice rendition. I don't consider it official, rather something more like a fan effort. Yes, it was made by Sierra (though, not entirely), but it wasn't made by Mark or Scott and they've gone on record to say that had they done a remake they would have done it differently. Not all cases do I think that way, though. I've already admitted that the outsourced work is nice, just not what I'd want to see in a Space Quest game. The Monkey Island 2 special edition, for instance, has great artwork and it was entirely outsourced. In fact it's better than the in-house work done on the first special edition. But in that case the outsourced artwork just so happened to be more faithful to the series and the original game than the in-house work. Opinions. Not prejudice. However, I'd still argue that the work done on MI2's remake, despite being better, was done without emotional attachment and merely to get a paycheck. It speaks to their talents that it was exactly what was needed, but that doesn't mean they were invested in the project.

Judgement Day. 1 had more in common with a typical 80s horror/thriller movie, which is a neat concept, but I prefer the action of 2. Also, as much as I appreciate what was accomplished with the simplicity of the first one, I love the score of the second. Similar to how I prefer Aliens to Alien. Though I do like Alien more than Terminator 1.

I agree. I got bored and stopped playing. Will have to get back to it, though.

It's a fact that outsourced artists don't know much about the source material. Just enough to go on to produce what the client wants. There's nothing prejudice about that. It's just true. They're not on the game design team working together to create something magical, they're not privy to the game design philosophies of Sierra, and they have a million other projects to worry about too. That's the nature of outsourcing contract work. Actually, if that's prejudice then it also applies to the remake "team" because, as Frede said, it was a cash grab. It wasn't a game that the Two Guys wanted to make like the rest were (save SQ6) I doubt much love went into its design. Short of Allen's score and Mandel's writing.

It does, really :). My bad for confusing the two of you. I generally have always believed that racial prejudice is racism...isn't that the definition? At any rate, nobody is racist or prejudice here.

What else could you be implying with words like "mockery" and phrases like "obviously bad quality" because "they're Koreans living in Korea"? Well, I don't run the site per se. I mean I do (with others), but I don't own it.

Yes, it's lazy. And no it's not mockery. "Random" implies somebody or some people not invested in the project without any emotional attachment to the product just doing something for money. He/she/they don't really care beyond their paycheck. "Koreans" implies just how far removed from Sierra these people are. They're not just not a part of the same company or the same city, they're in another country altogether! Maybe they don't even do artwork exclusively for video games. So yes, "random Koreans" applies without being racist. I just don't agree that the style isn't consistent. I'm pretty sure, and somebody correct me if I'm wrong, Mark Crowe was involved with the art direction in every Space Quest game if not doing the art himself, except for maybe SQ6. But VGA's direction sticks out the most of all of them. SQ6 is a lot closer than VGA's to the rest of the series. When it all comes down, the Two Guys didn't sign off on anything. Would Mark sign off on that artwork for the remake or would he go in a different direction? Maybe we should ask him.

Oh come on. Don't start that. It has nothing to do with them being Korean. Their artwork is quite fantastic, actually. It has everything to do with them not being Sierra in-house staff and not matching the vibe of the rest of the series. Actually, the fault really lies with Ken Williams and the art director(s) who signed off on it. It's not because "they're Korean". It just shows how lazy Sierra was in developing the game.

The difference between SQ1VGA and Hurt is that Johnny Cash (or his people) asked Reznor's permission to cover it, which he granted. And as you've said, he really liked it. Two important factors that aren't mirrored in this scenario.

Well, in all fairness, everyone was fuine until someone came in and criticized opinions... At any rate, I'm happy to go back to the fun.

Ah great. Now the funny joke thread has turned into serios busnss debate.....sigh. Despite what you may think, it is ok to dislike something based on principle alone. And it's not a terrible principle. It makes sense and is a noble one in this case. Don't pass it off like it's not. Just as we all understand it's ok to like something even though the original creators do not. Opinions! Nobody's trying to tell you your opinion is stup-.....I mean, er.... I happen to dislike VGA's art direction, but I do like the remake itself. It does not to the original justice at all, though. I just think the EGA has more "Space Quest" in it as far as atmosphere goes. VGA feels like some fan work that doesn't respect the style of the series and just does it's own thing. It sticks out like a sore thumb? If they had designed it in the style of SQ4 it would have been much better. But the differences are glaring. I get the style choice, really. SQ1 is the classic so they make it look like a classic sci-fi. I just happen to really dislike it. Not a fan of old-school sci-fi like that. I much prefer the 80s look. Even compared to today's depictions of the future. There was real character to it. Also, in the remake Ulence Flats is so colourful it looks like a family amusement park rather than the rundown, lowlife, desert-placed, weather-beaten scum dump that it's supposed to be. Silly to you. I think it's fine. Anyway, who cares?? I could say that you're being silly and a mere sheep fooled into liking the remake because of all the extra pretty neon colours it flashes around to get your attention by accessing the pleasure center of your brain while the actual content is all lifeless and fluff. Just as dumb. So you like the cartoon look. Right on. I appreciate some of the art, it's just not my thing. You prefer it. Go you. Go me. Go all of us for having opinions.

Oh...please. Don't. Have mercy. I can't go on.

If you disagree then you're stupid. I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you...

Totally prefer Mark Crowe's original 80's styled edgy red and blue sci-fi art direction. Can't stand the sci-fi B-movie look. The music, though, is one of the better qualities of it for sure.