DarthDaedric: Really sad that KQ was criticized for being too kiddy. I remember playing 5 and 7 with a friend and I enjoy the King's Quest games about as much now as I did then. They're just simple click and points. They're just silly fun. Why does it have to be serious and adult. I don't really consider them kiddy. They're just nice little games about nice people doing nice things for people in distress. Why is that so wrong?

envisaged0ne: The only one that was considered to "kiddy" was KQ7. Roberta Williams tried to give it a Disney movie feel. That's why you see the opening with Rosella singing. She tried to make it look like a cartoon & play more like a movie, with different chapters you could go to. The people that grew up with King's Quest felt like this was targeted mostly for kids. While the original games could appeal to all ages. Personally being one of those that grew up with KQ, I was 21 when KQ7 came out, and I did feel like it was to kiddy for my taste, so I lost interest in it after the 2nd chapter and never completed it. I didn't go back to the game until many years later & finish it. And I did enjoy it, even though it wasn't my favorite & I have little interest in going back & trying to beat it again. My personal favorite is KQ5. I enjoyed the darker story, without it going to far like KQ8 did

Bluddy: OK there's an attempt here to excuse Roberta for what KQ8 was. This is completely wrong. Roberta and Ken pushed for this direction. Adventure games in general were doing badly in the market, and 3d was clearly taking over. To them, this was how they would invigorate adventure games. This is entirely Roberta's design -- with the action and everything.

We have to remember that Roberta wasn't a great designer by any means. It's generally accepted that the best Sierra games were made by Jane Jensen, Christy Marx, and the Coles. The best-regarded King's Quest game was KQ6, designed by Jane Jensen. KQ7 wasn't really made by Roberta (if I remember correctly), but KQ8 was a result of Roberta getting intimately involved and trying to 'rescue the adventure genre'.

If you want to understand why Sierra made the games they did, focus on one fact -- Sierra's designers didn't play adventure games. I repeat -- they didn't play adventure games. Ken Williams, the man responsible for steering Sierra's direction, didn't play an adventure game in his life except for SoftPorn. As far as we can tell, Roberta also didn't play any adventure games. Ken's excuse for this was that playing existing adventure games would taint their own games with other people's ideas.

IMO Sierra single-handedly both built up and destroyed the adventure game genre.

cbingham: I recommend both Conquests games to anyone who has never played them (... they aren't on GOG yet)

cbingham: That link just takes me right back to this thread.

The multiple endings of Longbow is a cool feature. Gives that game some replayability. Good storyline. Nice artwork. Great music. Great characters. I like that your men tell you what you did wrong for most deaths. The problem with that game is most of the puzzles are really easy. The solutions are either in the manual or they are just easy to figure out, or they just tell you what to do. And then there's the riddles, which have the opposite problem (they're impossible and there's no hints). The arcade sequences are okay, but those things aren't my favorite things in adventure games (although I am glad Longbow gives you the option to skip them). The 9 Men's Morris mini-game is kind of fun though. It's a good game. I recommend both Conquests games to anyone who has never played them (You can get them on old-games.com, they aren't on GOG yet) but as far as best Sierra games I don't think they'd be on my top 10 list. Top 15 maybe. I actually prefer most Roberta games over the Conquests games, not just the majority of the King's Quest games but also the first Phantasmagoria game. For all her weaknesses as a game designer, Roberta is usually a fantastic storywriter.