An observation on Sierra's main adventure series

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

I have noticed a trend with Sierra's main adventure series (KQ, SQ, LSL):

All of them start off with a pretty straight forward first game, and them get progressively campier.

Take King's Quest I. Outside of a few comedic/tongue in cheek deaths and perhaps some snark from the narrator, there's really nothing cheesy about this game. It's played fairly serious, if a bit simple. KQ2 is much the same, but you have cheeky easter eggs like the Batmobile and more death related quips. KQ3-KQ4 are fairly dark games with only a few moments of true levity.

When you get to KQ5, however, you have entirely cheesy characters or sections of the game; KQ6 has an entire land which is played for laughs, and even the darkest part of the game has a cheesy moment (the dancing skeletons). KQ7 is zany and over-the-top. KQ8 is a return to the relatively straight route of KQ1. The new KQ is KQ7 on steroids.

SQ1 is a very straight science fiction/fantasy game. It has clever moments of sci fi parody, but otherwise, it's a slightly silly game set in a pretty straight forward sci-fi world. SQ2 is more over the top, but can be seen as a parody of 1980s America (the Door to Door salesmen being a plague); same with SQ3, which is pretty serious in a way but is a clever dig at Sierra itself. Only when you get to the VGA era do you get the really silly games - SQ4, while the darkest, has some of the goofiest moments; SQ5 is a direct parody of Star Trek, and SQ6 is zany.

LSL is pretty much an 80s comedy from the outset, but LSL1 is pretty restrained compared to the high level antics we see in the VGA era, especially LSL5 where it's simply over the top. LSL7 almost feels like a parody of the series itself.

I am wondering about your thoughts on this, and whether you feel the games declined in quality as the cheese factor went up?

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

No.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

The problem with your observation is that you're selecting what constitutes the "main adventure series" to prove your point. You're forgetting two more series from Sierra: Police Quest and Quest for Glory. Apply your observation to both of them, and it all falls apart.

Part of what you're seeing is the general trend with sequels: They have to one-up their predecessors somehow. Add in the fact that with the exception of the Quest for Glory series, all of the series mentioned were written "on the fly" - there was no grand storyline laying about that called for a series of games to be made. The writers just pulled together ideas from all around, added them to their game and waited to see what stuck. As the sequels started piling up, sometimes the odd idea like having a dark storyline for one game was thrown into the mix - but the reason for doing so was still the same.

 

[JarlFrank]

KQ had always silly elements

SQ was always basically Monkey Island in space

also you forgot Leisure Suit Larry which is also a main adventure series

 

[taxalot]

I remember a time when the discussion was "Which games have the best humor, Lucas Arts or Sierra ?" ?. Those two companies really felt compelled to outdo each other in that time.

 

[Andhaira]

The bad humor in the death scenes of the QFG games was a high point of the games for me!

 

[Melan]

It is a general symptom of game sequels. You can see it in Monkey Island vs. Monkey Island 2, but you can also see it in Fallout vs. Fallout 2. The worst offender is probably Simon the Sorcerer vs. Simon the Sorcerer 2. Campy "pop culture reference" humour is the easiest to go for. It can be done well (Monkey Island's "Ask me about Loom" guy is a good example), but often, it is just a sign of the designers being lazy or running out of ideas.

 

[MRY]

It is a general symptom of game sequels.

I loathe Dreamfall, but this criticism doesn't seem to hold for it. I'd have to think about it for a little while, but I think you might be cherry-picking. Most RPGs from the early-to-mid 1980s were way campier and pop-culture-referencing than their sequels as they became more professional. I think the same might be true-ish with Jeff Vogel, though I'd have to ponder a bit -- I remember quite a bit of goofiness in the original Exile series that was washed away as it went on. Wasn't there a villain named Limoncello or something? I feel like Mortal Kombat maybe got a bit less goofy, but I can't remember well. I think Wing Commander, though it was always fairly serious, definitely got more serious as it went on.

I do think that sequels tend to try and one-up their predecessors in various ways -- while at the same time the best ideas get burned in the first game -- but I'm not sure that they always get campier. Sometimes they get more serious/cinematic/pretentious.