+1 Mask of Eternity is better by far.

I'm probably in minority, but I think that KQ4 is best game of the series.

I also think that Mask of Eternity isn't as bad as people always claim it is. While I'm not huge action fan, the game is actually quite enjoyable. But the biggest issue I had with MoE was it's somewhat disappointing ending. I would have preferred a longer cutscene which explains what happened to Connor afterwards.

And when it comes to fan games, I'm not too happy about the changes to the canon which they make. I like that the stories are relatively independent and everything isn't connected with everything else.

It was a dark time. I still kept buying adventure games, but one day I noticed that there simply weren't new adventure games in the stores. I had played adventure games passionately the entire 90s and now suddenly Sierra and LucasArts weren't making adventure games any more. I still occasionally played my old adventures, but for most part I just played strategy and roleplaying games. I'm happy that the genre has experienced a revival (although I think that most modern adventures have too easy puzzles and not enough Sierra logic).

I was sorry to see them sell out their Sierra interests and leave the gaming biz (Roberta & what's-his-name...I always forget for some reason!) Although I'm sure I'd have taken the money and run, too, at the time--the IP & Sierra were still egregiously overvalued, imo, so it was a good time to sell. I'm the last person to ask about the specifics of the sale, though, really.

It's just that I've always reflected that both of them could have done so much better had they hung in there for another decade or two...the technology would have been so much more amenable to their initial visions--and they could have produced far better games. FMV is only now reaching the point where HD-quality graphics are the norm as opposed to the exception--1920x1080 is now the defacto standard for even lowly television these days.

But...they quit, sold out, bought a boat and proceeded to travel the globe last I heard of them--a truly enviable lifestyle, certainly. But still...I'd have rather they didn't quit as it seems they quit too early, imo. Phantasmagoria & sequel was a cool vision, imo--but simply attempted far too early for the technology of the day to do it justice. GK2, ditto. Today such games could reach fantastic potentials because the themes, scripts, games, and internal FMV clips could have captured exactly what Roberta intended originally. As it was, her great FMV ideas came out like a child trying to imitate Picasso with a crayon...;) Wasn't her fault at all--she was just too far ahead of the industry/tech.

I don't think Roberta was trying to "save a genre" at all--I think she was attempting to take newer technologies and incorporate them into her games, to make them more interesting to adults and to add another dimension to them--the "genre" is not in need of saving as children's fairly tales are in no danger of becoming unpopular. But let's face it, by the time KQ8 rolled around Roberta had done the story of fairy princes and princesses in magical kingdoms practically to death...;)

I wish they had stayed around...they might have really created some worthwhile games later on. But, like so many of the early, by-the-seat-of-our-pants computer game developers, they may have simply felt outclassed by the newer breed of developers beginning to make their own reputations and memorable products. Only they know the real answer to that supposition, I suppose.

It's the best game in the series since the 6th one. That much is for sure.

I think what is different today is the size of the market--it's gigantic compared to what it was then--and gaming consoles have been absorbed by the same x86 hardware standards that comprise the PC marketplace. Of course, there are umpteen millions more PCs in circulation than there are gaming consoles, but the PC market is not the market for games that the console market is, because PC gamers are much more discriminating (because they can be), whereas console gamers have to buy the games released at whatever price is asked because otherwise their consoles are useless. Still, the slice of the PC market housing gamers is quite a bit larger today than it was then. So it makes all the sense in the world to come back in with *quality* adventure games. My two cents, anyway...;)

Then again, that market, as huge as it may be, is also wildly divergent in its tastes. If they were to make triple A adventure games, you can bet they'd dumb it down to the lowest common denominator and focus on story over gameplay to rake in as much players as possible, kinda like how Telltale has been doing. Gameplay wise it would be nowhere as similar as the games we grew up with.

Personally, I don't really care about that so called resurrection of the adventure game genre. There were tons of high quality small budget or indie adventure games produced in the last decade: great games that compromised neither plot nor gameplay. I'd rather play these games over any triple A adventure game that'd just screw up the gameplay, or in case of potential sequels to older game, screw up the plot or atmosphere because newer devs are oblivious to the subtleties of the older games. And if you're in favor of the resurrection because you want to see sequels to your favorite game from the olden days, well, there are some remakes and sequels (unofficial and/or spiritual) included in these small budget or indie titles. It's really just a matter of looking for them.

Surprisingly it seems "visual novels" are becoming relatively popular again (always been popular in Japan), there are quite a few being released, or have been released in Vita, 3DS/DS, and PC in recent years. They are basically the older sibling to adventure games, but much simplified down to the story, and fewer actions/puzzles.