Sierra What was the best game in each Sierra series?

[laclongquan]

PHARAO + CLEOPATRA !!!

caesar 3 ...

Pharaoh and Cleopatra has one very annoying bug/feature that prevent it being the best of the series: the carrier sometimes can go half-way across the map to get an item and returning home. Sure, that's how the algorimth goes. But there should be a button that force the ongoing character to recalculate their options at that time of activating. Otherwise it's too annoying, as even double stock of necessary items doesnt always work.

Therefore Caesar3 is better in term of gameplay and mechanics.

Zeus might be good in a bland, instanf food, popcorn way, but it's too easy and making replays less possible.

 

[Jason Liang]

I got to go with Larry 5. Felt more open ended with the travelling, lewder, and great ending. 6 might have had some better jokes but 6 also had really dumb puzzles.

Amon Ra > Colonel's Bequest but both Lara Bow games are way underrated.

Don't have much of an opinion on the King's Quest games, except all the ones I played were mostly forgettable. VI is overrated, VII is underrated.

For the Gabriel Knight games, not sure why GK1 has such an overwhelming concensus. 1 is beautiful to look at but in terms of the story 2 and 3 are just as good.

 

[azimuth]

It sounds more like OP is looking for recommendations than he is interested in discussion of which is "the best."

So here are my recommendations instead of my favourites. These are pretty ironclad and almost anybody who's familiar with the series would agree with these, as they're the standard recommendations. There's a lot of overlap with other posts.

Quest for Glory 1 VGA or Quest for Glory 4 (if you didn't like 4, you'll probably not like any of the games. 3 is the worst game in the series until 5, which is usually ignored)
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father (NOT the remake)
Space Quest 1 VGA or Space Quest 5 (4 is a fan favourite, but it will be really frustrating if you're new)
King's Quest 6 (Do not start with 5)
Police Quest 2 (the text parser may turn you off, but it's the best game of the series)
Leisure Suit Larry 7, followed by Leisure Suit Larry 1 VGA
Laura Bow: Dagger of Amon Ra

Non-series or substudio games I recommend:
Gobliiins 3 or Woodruff (love these but they're a bit niche)
Freddy Pharkas Frontier Pharmacist
Pepper's Adventures in Time
Island of Dr Brain / Castle of Dr Brain
Willy Beamish

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

For the Gabriel Knight games, not sure why GK1 has such an overwhelming concensus. 1 is beautiful to look at but in terms of the story 2 and 3 are just as good.

The second Gabriel Knight game fell in with the short-lived FMV craze of the mid-90s, using actual actors and scenery for its graphics. As a result, interaction with the environment was severely limited compared to the first game, and gameplay suffered accordingly. Not to mention that the acting was terrible, especially when contrasted with the excellent voice-acting of the original. Even if the story is roughly equal to the original, everything else (except the music, again provided by Robert Holmes) is worse.

The third Gabriel Knight game unnecessarily used 3D graphics, which made things uglier and clunkier than they would have been with 2D graphics, but more importantly the writing was simply awful both for the narrative and for the puzzles. 18 years have passed since I played it, but if memory serves, when Gabriel Knight arrives in Rennes-le-chateau in pursuit of a kidnapped baby, it's immediately obvious where he's being held, but the game won't let you investigate that location until much time has been spent on irrelevant activities, and once you do finally investigate the game swiftly moves towards its end.

 

[Jason Liang]

Push comes to shove I would probably rate 1 as the best too but it isn't by a wide margin and it's worth discussing. 1 has its share of stupid puzzles/ gates too. You know where you're supposed to go but the game wont let you go there. Fucking mud from the lake.

 

[Sceptic]

It sounds more like OP is looking for trolling than he is interested in discussion of which is "the best."

Fixed.

quick question for ya: is Police Quest 3 enjoyable without any prior knowledge of PQ 1 & 2 ?
I do plan on playing them all, but currently I'm pretty hyped about PQ 3 because I read that it's written by Jane Jensen.

I think it's much better to play them in order, considering what kicks off the story in each one is directly related to what happened in the previous one. I don't remember if Jensen was involved in 3 but if she was you probably won't recognize it, it's not GK in any way, or even KQ6 for that matter. I'm kinda fond of 3 myself, but always felt it was slightly unfinished, the way some threads are tied together is tenuous at best (though the way others pan out is quite cool)

 

[Martyr]

quick question for ya: is Police Quest 3 enjoyable without any prior knowledge of PQ 1 & 2 ?
I do plan on playing them all, but currently I'm pretty hyped about PQ 3 because I read that it's written by Jane Jensen.

I think it's much better to play them in order, considering what kicks off the story in each one is directly related to what happened in the previous one. I don't remember if Jensen was involved in 3 but if she was you probably won't recognize it, it's not GK in any way, or even KQ6 for that matter. I'm kinda fond of 3 myself, but always felt it was slightly unfinished, the way some threads are tied together is tenuous at best (though the way others pan out is quite cool)

thanks for the answer! so I'll just play them in order. yeah I was pretty surprised to read about Jensen working on PQ 3, according to MobyGames she wrote the story for PQ3 and designed EcoQuest (never heard of it) in 1991. those were her first games, so I expect her writing to be a little ... rough/unpolished.

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

For the Gabriel Knight games, not sure why GK1 has such an overwhelming concensus. 1 is beautiful to look at but in terms of the story 2 and 3 are just as good.

The second Gabriel Knight game fell in with the short-lived FMV craze of the mid-90s, using actual actors and scenery for its graphics. As a result, interaction with the environment was severely limited compared to the first game, and gameplay suffered accordingly. Not to mention that the acting was terrible, especially when contrasted with the excellent voice-acting of the original. Even if the story is roughly equal to the original, everything else (except the music, again provided by Robert Holmes) is worse.

The third Gabriel Knight game unnecessarily used 3D graphics, which made things uglier and clunkier than they would have been with 2D graphics, but more importantly the writing was simply awful both for the narrative and for the puzzles. 18 years have passed since I played it, but if memory serves, when Gabriel Knight arrives in Rennes-le-chateau in pursuit of a kidnapped baby, it's immediately obvious where he's being held, but the game won't let you investigate that location until much time has been spent on irrelevant activities, and once you do finally investigate the game swiftly moves towards its end.

I agree on the third game, but I actually thought 2 was a rare case where the FMV concept worked. I also think FMV games are underrated in general.

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

It sounds more like OP is looking for trolling than he is interested in discussion of which is "the best."

Fixed.

quick question for ya: is Police Quest 3 enjoyable without any prior knowledge of PQ 1 & 2 ?
I do plan on playing them all, but currently I'm pretty hyped about PQ 3 because I read that it's written by Jane Jensen.

I think it's much better to play them in order, considering what kicks off the story in each one is directly related to what happened in the previous one. I don't remember if Jensen was involved in 3 but if she was you probably won't recognize it, it's not GK in any way, or even KQ6 for that matter. I'm kinda fond of 3 myself, but always felt it was slightly unfinished, the way some threads are tied together is tenuous at best (though the way others pan out is quite cool)

I love Sierra. It's my thing.

 

[Cael]

Everyone forgot Lords of Magic :D