lostwolfe: but i absolutely agree. there were /some/ terrible things in the designs of those games, but they're great for what they are when they were made. i don't think there's nearly as much heart and soul put into games, now. it's all design by committee and lowest common denominator.
PMIK: I think the Sierra adventures are heavily underrated these days. I understand the criticisms e.g. the often ridiculously difficult puzzles, the fail state situations that let you play for several hours before you realise that you can no longer win, etc.
However, they really, truly had a sense of adventure. While I love the Lucasarts games immensely, I felt like I was playing a game. When I played the sierra games, I truly felt like anything was possible. The opening area in Leisure Suit Larry 2, for example, made me feel like I was walking around a real city more than any other game since.
Haven't watched your videos yet but I'll subscribe and come back later when I get the chance
first of all: thank you for subscribing. i appreciate it and i hope you enjoy what's there. i try and play a mixture of games besides just sierra [which is how i started out] - mostly so that there's /something/ to watch in case you're not into the current sierra project.
as for lucasarts vs sierra: this is something i've felt for a /very/ long time. yes, the lucasarts games were generally more professional, and certainly, they looked better, but under the hood, they really /did/ have that very "game" feeling that was present in some very early adventures.
sierra, by contrast, had a whole lot of heart. it felt to me - at the time, especially, like lucasarts were really "a company of professionals making professional games" where sierra felt like "a family of friends that are making things that they find fun and they want to share that with you."
having said that, there are a couple of really seminal lucasarts games that i feel every adventurer should experience at least once.
eg: i love the dig - it's under-rated, but that game is pretty much the moost soothing and gentle adventure gamve i've ever played - and the fact that the story flirts with such heavy themes is something you don't see a lot in gaming at all.
loom is excellent as well - for completely different reasons. there's a whole world going on in that game, with it's own people and their own mores and beliefs - it's really a testament to how much you can do with so little.
grim fandango - again - is amazing for just the story it's telling and how it's told.
but outside of that? i think the lucasarts games are "generally good" but if i have to stack, say, space quest up against monkey island, though i think monkey island is generally better written and a "superior" game, i don't get the same sense of "family" and "goofy silliness" from it that i get from space quest.
in hindsight: i love both companies, now, [and i wish both of them were still with us, though i think they'd be /quite/ different from what they were when i was growing up] but something about sierra's "family-ness" just edges out lucasarts a tiny bit.
