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What made Space Quest special


Telix Zmodem

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What made Space Quest special to you? For me, it was:

 

1. The games were funny! As a kid, I enjoyed the humor more so than LSL, which was over my head!

2. The box art was great! It stood out at Software Etc. It was like Star Wars.

3. There was no 'Star Wars Adventure Game', so it was something that was new, but similar to what I wanted.

4. This was before 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' so it also reminded me of 'Star Trek TOS'.

5. Other games like KQ had you play as a specific character, but Roger was generic enough that I could see me as Roger. It seemed more immersive.

6. It was a game I could play with friends, especially if they hadn't seen it, I would give the full presentation and hype it up like a movie. For a single-player game, that was awesome!

7. I studied every screen of Space Quest games. Mark Crowe did some awesome work with the graphics and animations. It was a very inspirational series!

 

Can't wait for the SpaceVenture!

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It's tough for me to nail down one thing. It's just a great combination of a bunch of things that I loved, pretty much exactly the things you listed, Telix. I also loved the art. It was fantastic. I love sci-fi, it was a wonderful experience to explore the universe where literally anything could pop up next. And it was great humour to boot. Just all around great. True exploration and a journey. True ADVENTURE.

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Well, the humor was certainly important. And the graphics too, they were nice.

 

But a really important thing was being able to type things into a *machine* and (for a 8-9 year old kid) this computer *understands* you. Albeit it especially understands all the cuss words you know.

 

Most important though, was that we did this as a *group* of 8 year olds, talking to each other about what we were going to type in next into the system. We went to my friend's house to play it. I would have tried to do it all myself, but my dad refused to buy me a computer till I was sixteen (six years later). He felt I needed to master the 'typewriter' first.

 

Would be awesome if the new SpaceQuest had online group gameplay (and I mean that literally, not sarcastically), because I'm 34 years old now, and it's harder to walk to someone 34 years old and say, "Hey, let's see what happens if we type into SpaceQuest next?"

 

;)

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What made Space Quest special for me was that it showed me you don't have to take things so seriously; in fact, it's better to lighten up and have a laugh, even if things are going miserably, because then at least you still had a laugh. (Yes, it took me a long time to come to that conclusion. ;) )

 

Space Quest literally was an indelible part of my upbringing and personality. It sounds ridiculous to think that a computer game series in blocky 16 color EGA graphics could have a profound impact on an adolescent (who probably shouldn't have been playing these games in the first place, morality concerns being what they are) ... but they really did.

 

I frequently mention Tex Murphy and Beneath A Steel Sky as other games that have influenced me as a child and onwards into adulthood, and they have also been incredibly important in my so-called "development," as have The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, Orwell's 1984, the Red Dwarf tv-series and Futurama, but Space Quest was the genesis of all that. Space Quest taught me the fundamental joy of not giving a fuck.

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I'm definitely drawn to the Space Quest games' sense of humor, but I also like the whole "reluctant hero" aspect of the story. Roger is just an ordinary guy -- arguably the most ordinary guy imaginable -- who gets thrust into extraordinary circumstances just by slacking off on the job at a very opportune moment. From there, he's on a wild ride to heroism, often at the mercy of forces beyond his control.

 

I know it sounds corny, but those kinds of stories have always been a bit inspirational to me. I'd like to think that, under the right circumstances, I could rise to the occasion and do something heroic too.

 

Looking back, that may have been a better response for my "Why I Love Space Quest" video than the Roberta Williams gag... ;)

 

Jess

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The "reluctant hero" aspect, definitely, is one of the key elements for me as well. Thank you for explaining that so clearly, Jess. :)

 

That's what I meant when I said there were "similarities" between Roger Wilco and e.g. Tex Murphy, or Robert Foster (the protagonist in Beneath A Steel Sky). None of them asked for this hero nonsense, either, and frankly, they'd rather be without it and go back to sleep, if it was all the same to us. I think anyone who has had responsibilities they didn't want to live up to, or have been thrust into situations they didn't ask for (yes, life itself counts), can relate wholly to the Space Quest series.

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All of the above, but what really yanked my chain was the awesome space setting. Walking around a derelict space station, the feeling of mystery, exploration, discovery, never home, never anywhere familiar, always lost in the great unknown, this hopeless lost guy trying to make sense of the world and find his place and never succeeding.

Roger entering cryosleep and drifting off into a completely uncertain future at the end of SQ2 was sheer poetry. One of the best endings of any game ever.

And then waking up crashed into a derelict garbage dump floating out in space in SQ3 (or somesuch - I need to replay these asap), one of the best beginnings ever.

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The SQ3 teaser scenes really played into that! I remember getting the VHS video of the new Sierra games (by mail, the one featuring KQ4) and seeing that the pod was sucked up by a passing freighter. I couldn't wait to try it!

 

The arcade sequences and especially Astro-Chicken and the Robot Battle at the end were a blast. It was like buying an adventure game and finding a copy of Ivan Ironman Stewart's Off-Road racing built in. I'd come back to those Save Games and replay them!

 

The prototype demo from the Two Guys has that same Space Quest feeling, so it's looking great!

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Roger entering cryosleep and drifting off into a completely uncertain future at the end of SQ2 was sheer poetry. One of the best endings of any game ever.

Yeah....except it was a complete blatant rip-off/parody of the ending to Alien. ;)

 

SQ2 did segue very nicely into SQ3, though, and had a great atmosphere.

 

One of my favourite things honestly from Space Quest was the artwork by Mark Crowe. So distinct. So retro futuristic. It had a great look. All of the vector stuff I'm talking about, mostly. I don't know what kind of artwork he did in SQ4, that was great too. But there was something about the graphics from the first three. The limited palette really added to it. To this day I still think the original black box Space Quest logo (red outlined letters with blue star + starfield inside) to be the most amazing sci-fi logo ever. I loved that it was used again for the EGA version of SQ4, as it was in SQ1AGI.

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I contemplated this thread's topic for some time before coming to the conclusion that it would take a lengthy series of flowcharts, timelines and Venn diagrams to form a coherent explanation regarding my fondness for the series.

 

I guess you could say that I like it because it's a lot like other things that I like, and it has in turn led me to like other things that are not unlike the things that I liked in the first place -- sort of like a positive feedback loop.

 

In short, I can't honestly say for certain. I guess it could all be chalked up to my limited but somewhat "unique" tastes.

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  • 4 months later...

I don't really have much else to say that hasn't been said before, because I think we all echo all, if not most of the sediments regarding the series, and that's largely why we're all here in the first place! :D

 

What makes the games special for me, is having grown up with them, not only did they lay the foundation of my humor and a large part of my sarcastic nature, but they also provide a comfort zone when times are tough...I just boot up one of the games and once those visuals and sounds come together all is right with the universe I can just shut out to the outside world and spend time with my good buddy Roger Wilco

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Would be awesome if the new SpaceQuest had online group gameplay (and I mean that literally, not sarcastically), because I'm 34 years old now, and it's harder to walk to someone 34 years old and say, "Hey, let's see what happens if we type into SpaceQuest next?"

 

;)

 

Poor guy, you just need to find the right set of friends. My two best friends are still happy to play zany adventure games together and laugh alongside me. We played Zork rather than SpaceQuest, but looking forward to trying SpaceVenture next year.

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Its a difficult question to really answer but for me personally Space Quest was special for all the right reasons. I was a pretty goofy kid who was in love with Star Trek, Star Wars and pretty much anything sci-fi. I eventually grew up to be a goofy adult who is still in love with Star Trek, Star Wars and anything sci-fi. But Space Quest filled an amazing void in my childhood. Filled it with great laughs, great friends what else could I want out of a 20 year old game?

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