Space Quest I: The Sarien Encounter - Game Review (PC)
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- Опубліковано 20 січ 2014
- Let's take another look at Space Quest I, a classic DOS adventure game by Sierra On-Line. This is one of the first adventure games I ever played. Does it hold up, or is it a ball of moon logic and frustration?
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Sierra's logo: Save early, save often.
And wow how that was true.
Gotta love the star-trek thing, even funnier if you follow Roses on twitter.
PushingUpRoses + William T. Riker 4Evah
I miss funny and gruesome deaths in adventure games. The Space Quest series was a master at it.
Can I just say, "breaking up the asteroid field in my mind" sounds beautifully poetic
I played it back in the 80s on a Tandy computer! lol
I really loved the Space Quest games.
Nice review! I play the Quest Games every now and again. On a sidenote you don't have to play the slot machine with saving evertime. There is a magnet in the bridge on the ship you start. You place it on the machine and you always win.
You may actually want to start looking at a walkthrough right away to avoid getting stuck much later in the game due to not picking up one of the obscure items on the space ship in the beginning. Don't say I didn't warn ya! Sorry spirit of PUR. :)
That bit of Sierra's well-earned reputation is why I don't go into their games without a walkthrough. (Not such a great habit for e.g. Lucasarts games, of course...)
I remember being stuck on Kings Quest 4 for years trying to find the Bridle when I was younger. I even waited so long in the game that it turned night time while I was out looking for the Bridle. Then when I came back to it and eventually found it on the island, I really felt stupid. I didn't even realize it was there before. The game was actually really easy for me after that.
I dunno why, but PushingUpRoses has such a charming style when it comes to her videos. I really hope to see more of these. Definitely subscribing.
My favourite game series, especially the three first. I finished Space Quest last week for the first time, and today I finished Space Quest II for the first time. Only got 217 of 250 points, but the important thing is to save the galaxy, not get points. I never managed to finish them as a kid, but I learned a lot of english by playing them.
Very nice review Roses! One of my favorite adventure series of all time, along with Legend of Kyrandia.
Space Quest games were my jam growing up. Space Quest 3 I think had some of the best visuals and jokes. And deaths.
More Space Quest is a fantastic idea!
These videos are awesome. Please keep making them!
Nice to have this back up... and that we'll be talking more Space Quest in the future...
this video is great... love the "logbook-intro" and your acting in it. ;)
Good 2nd look review! Thanks! greetings from germany.
Ah Space Quest... so many ways to die, so little time to do it in... :B
Kings quest III was my first game too. My father brought home both KQ3 and SQ, but I didn't know about SQ until a couple of months later. I still play those games on my old Tandy 1000 where the experience is still just perfect! Sierra games are still the best!
Awesome review, PuR!
Prodigy and other bulletin board systems were a total lifesaver.
Excellent review, Roses. I probably should play those games at some point cause I absolutely love oldschool adventure games.
Space Quest 1 was my first PC game. I think I had it before you could call to get hints, so I would write letters to Sierra describing where I was and how I was stuck. Eventually they'd write back and tell me what to do. I think it took several weeks to get a response - talk about patience. But I never would have gotten the broken glass from the crashed escape pod without it.
One of the best games ever...glad I had the pleasure of playing this in the early 90's
Keep the Sierra games coming! Sierra and Nintendo equal my childhood.
I bought a Space Quest collection on Steam a while back. Booted up SQ1, kept dying to aliens; looked up a walkthrough to figure out what to do, tried to do that, _still_ kept dying to the same Space-God-damned aliens.
I don't get how this series caught on it _that_ was its intro. Seems more fitting for an endgame obstacle than a fun hook or accurate introduction to the core gameplay loop.
Loves me some Space Quest!
3:28 - 3:40 In 2000s term, that's MICROTRANSANCTION to you!
I’ve had that theme song stuck in my head for 30 years, and I finally found out where it’s from…
I found Space Quest 1 VGA in a bargin bin when I was a kid, Love these games!
Great review, it actually inspired me to try the game and turns out it's really not as difficult or frustrating as I though it would be. Well, I did look into the walkthrough... but just 3-4 times. There are just too many dead ends and honestly, most of the times I look at a walkthrough when playing an adventure game, I get the feeling that I would've been stuck for hours had I not looked, which is no fun at all these days.
The most surprising thing is that this 1986 EGA game (31 years old, wow...) is actually really, really cool (minor frustrations aside). I've played a fair bit of 90s adventure games, but never really considered trying something older. Turns out it was worth playing after all. It also gave me a new appreciation for the early SCUMM interfaces, the ones with lots of keywords. The text parser was a real pain in the ass on more than one occasion, especially at first.
lol the wilhelm scream at 2:56
Love it! Space Quest and other Sierra games also taught me how to type!
your'e about to go big I think, great show subbed and spreading the word.
...you know, you can turn the speed down to slowest during the sand speeder section. Makes it easier to see the rocks coming.
Personally, I preferred the VGA remake...if only for the lovely addition of the widget. Place that sucker on the slot machine and BINGO! Win every time!
As for King's Quest III...that was nigh impossible for me. Because you need to know roman numerals for the spell book pages.
I just now found out that there's a way to cheat at the slots in the original.
ua-cam.com/video/OQbALMndGSY/v-deo.html
Now THIS is something I can get behind! :-D Keep these coming!
This brings back so many memories...
I played the first two King's Quests games with a walkthrough because, y'know, I'm weak, but you've guilted me into going guide-free for my next Sierra adventure.
Yay! a complete series ahead :D (we totally are insatiable). I never played these but remember seeings tons of ads in game magazines, specially with Roger Wilco
I played the Space Quest series so much when I was a kid! Love it! Will you also be reviewing the other episodes of SQ at some point?
I remember watching my dad play Space Quest IV and V when I was growing up. I only just got to play the first three games for myself a year or two ago--it was definitely worth the wait! I love these games.
One of my all-time favorite Sierra titles! Where's your videos on the rest of the series?
Even though I played the KQ games first... SQ1 was the game that made me hooked on PC adventure games. I remember being stuck for weeks because I couldn't pass the laser part. SQ is easily my fav adventure game franchise.
This brings back memories. Space Quest was one of the first pc games I ever played. Can remember if I actually beat this game or not before moving on to my TSR D&D computer games though.
As I already said before the original video got deleted: loved the video, and looking forward to more ;)
Sierra games had impossible/illogical puzzles on purpose. Its how they made money by selling hint books or the paid hint lines. Thats what really made me not play once I got stuck. I loved the quest series. Police quest, king's quest and space quest... but as a child... I didn't have the financial resources to pay for hints. It's sad but I still love the nostalgic value these games have. Thank you for sharing your review with everyone!
Ulence Flats. I have played this game many times, from the days when it came on 5-inch floppies (did not work on a PC jr, by the by), and I JUST NOW got the joke.
I think I know what you mean by not using a walkthrough...the deaths are just as entertaining and zany as the victories throughout the series...Alas the only game I played in the series was SpaceQuest II...on a Macintosh Plus...Lovely review of a wonderfully golden oldie :-3
I had KQ3 and SQ2 as the first Sierra _____ Quest games, and a lot of the AGI games where you had to race to type things were actually better "Typing" encouragement in a time when computers weren't in classrooms (It would be another 6 years before that happened.)
The SCI engine games (the ones with the mouse pointer) actually paused the game to type, and the later versions did away with the typing entirely, which made a lot more sense when every computer had a mouse, and porting such games to a tablet today would still be viable.
I’m sorry that so far the Space Quest reviews have only covered 1 and 6. 😮
Yeah i was born in 84, and grew up playing these games, I do not miss that in every step you take you can die. Even back then, it was frustrating and annoying.
No way! You met Scott Murphy? That rocks!
I wish this game series could've been played with your choice of male/female character too. Ditto for Quest for Glory, although Heroine's Quest is pretty decent.
Hahha I just recently beaten SQ1 just 20 minutes ago. Then I went to visit youtube then my first video was your space quest review.
I love the Sierra Kings/Space quest games I just started these games in 2013.
When I first played space quest I decided to start with the fanmade Space Quest 0 game which is alot harder than the official first game because of some annoying hit detection in the underwater caverns and sticking to the shadows when avoiding the sarien guards. (I think they were Sarien in SQ0).
I'm gonna get started on SQ2 tomorrow when i get back from work.
It's a great game, how far along did you get now? Good job starting with the original games over the remakes, their more challenging with the typing interface and of a magic all of their own. Both the remakes are worth playing too though, official and unofficial.
After 2 no doubt you'll try 2.5? Good luck not dying, LOL! Or avoiding dead ends, it can be bad on that score too if your not thorough, and even so the path isn't always that logical.
The very first thing I ever used the internet for - before I really understood what it was or had consistent access to it - was to look up a puzzle solution for Space Quest IV. It was a birthday present. Not the game - being allowed to look something up online.
Love this series, this is the second game I played from Sierra On-Line (The First being Quest For Glory I) and I was hooked picking up anything Sierra related since such as Manhunter, Police Quest, Gabriel Knight (especially Gabriel Knight),
Wait a second. The planet is Kerona; it's a certain town / spaceport that is named Ulence Flats, which is a funny take on "flatulence."
You should do a review of the original Oregon Trail
PushingUpRoses videos make the days easier! I've been wracking my brain trying to think of an ol' school DOS game and nothing seems to come to mind : / Maybe BlueMax..but that's about it.
More Space Quest reviews!
This was the very first adventure game I ever played on my Tandy 1000
brings back memories of me when i was about 10 playing this on an XT computer with a green screen. this was one of the few games that would run on that old computer. and aside of loving playing this game, i also learned english from it and learned how to spell words.
Thank you for reviewing Space Quest, been waiting for it. Perhaps Space Quest VI, the Spinal Frontier, in the future? Or If you're sick of that, I recommend The Island of Dr. Brain. Keep up the great reviews! :-)
Oh no! I looked up a walkthrough for Space Quest, AHHH!!! Oh hi Roses.
How do you feel about the space quest 1 vga remake?
How did you go about getting your footage? I have attempted to acquire footage of old sierra games, and I always run into trouble. The Dosbox internal video option only lets me grab very low res video..
I hadn't seen this game before, but just recently watched Previously Recorded play through it. Looks like a lot of fun (with a few seemingly impossible puzzles) :)
Have you ever thought about doing a vlog gaming series? Kind of like Yahtzee's "lets drown out" or kurtjmac's "far lands or bust". You are so great with commentary, that I would love to hear you commentate on everyday events.
Hrm. Maybe. I'll tinker with the idea. :)
My dreams have come true!
Nice video.
I think the difficulty of games like Space Quest toughened us up as kids. They taught us the value of patience and perseverance. Sure playing them now could conceivably be a frustrating experience, but at the same time modern games are frequently so easy as to render playing them all but pointless.
And we used to rocket jump to school through boiling lava... while wearing shorts... uphill... both ways.
*shakes walking stick*
Nice review 😀 I've grown up on just monkey island and maniac mansion but now with the ScummVM app I'm getting to dl all these games n play them!!! This one looks different putting in commands. Still cool. I remember the cover for one of these, the blue one with Roger Wilco on it. So keen to get through em. I've got Police quest 1, This, Kings quest 1, Monkey island 1, Maniac Mansion, Indiana Jones n the fate of Atlantis and Leisure suit larry 1. So I'm starting from the start n gonna try get through em!!! Oh I got Loom too :) I'll checkout more of your vids now that I know your good. Sweetas......peace m8!
I love how the background music is from SQ5
Awesome review roses . :) . I rember playing monkey island . The first one as a kid . And has you said . We had no internet . So I nrver completed it . I got stuck at the part with the dog at the mansion . And this was a vety early version . So it was hard to figure out . :) . I still have not gone back and finished the . Game . :) . So are you playing one of the space quest games soon as a lp then . ? . Also cool channel picture . :) .
You are about to get a bunch of views because of the new humble bundle
Such good memories, except for when they started getting crazy creepy with the primordial soup, ominous inevitability of robot assassin cops, nameless time assassins, foreground creepers, pop up zombies, and millions of potential deaths!! Well at least the space quest games were less scary to play then the police quest series.
Teacher says everytime you beat an adventure game without a walkthrough, a pushing up roses gets a sweet tattoo.
Man, this brings back memories. I still have my Space Quest collection discs somewhere around here, the problem is that the disc with SQ6 on it is rather faulty and the game crashes after the Sick Bay scene. Thankfully I got a working version on GoG.com. Also you got to meet Scott Murphy? Fucking awesome!
Thanks nice show!! I might I have to hunt down a cop of that game now!!!
Pretty sure Roger Wilco is short for Roger, will comply. A lot older than your comic reference, but maybe that comic references the original source of military communication.
Back in the day, we had only handful of games to choose from (I mean, in our posesion). We couldn't just let go of the game we couldn't beat, we had to get our moneys worth, because parents won't be getting us anyting new before another birthday for sure. Now we have a lot of games, andwe don't want't to, nor have to put up with more frustrating parts. If we are stuck in one place, we can forget game pretty fast, and pick up another one. I don'r really think, it's such a bad thing to do.
Hooray!
Finally! I thought you'd never finish reviewing House...
Finally? Did you not catch the Freddi Fish review that went up a couple weeks ago as well? That went up after House. :)
PushingUpRoses Must've missed that. :)
Anyway, can't wait for the next Space Quest review! It's my favorite adventure series of all time. :)
I'm a Quest for Glory fan, myself, but yeah--Space Quest has quite the following too!
Ulence Flats.
Rearrange the words. Yep, that totally passed by me as a kid!
Ben B Well shit, now I smell it.
The second last Roger Wilco design looks like Zapp Brannigan.
Thanks for reviewing Space Quest 1, as usual, you've been a real pant load.
Jeeze, what does that even mean Gary? I'll just assume it's referencing how much we have to fill Rogers pants with potentially useful garbage. Hmm, are these games to blame for all the oddities I've collected, just in case?
Best game series evaaaaaar!!!!
I remember when I was a kid allI played on PC was Doom 95 and the pinball that came with windows 95
In the early 90s, I used BBSes and usenet to get walkthroughs.
the dificulty and deaths i can handle.. but the dead ends is evil of sierrra.
Yep, get to the very end to realize you didn't get one object right from the beginning
Just the two space quests reviewed?
I see Space Quest, I subscribe.
I grew up in the 90s, so I've experienced a different breed of games, therefore I might be biased. But from what I know, it always seemed to me that this trial and error style game design in Sierra adventures, plus the possibility of dying, is just a not very good excuse for giving the false impression of more gameplay hours than there actually would be, based on the content. Basically the adventure game equivalent of making platformers very hard, so you have to start over lots of times; and, depending on your personality and level of patience, that can be frustrating. Again, I'm pretty biased, but I think Lucasarts' style of game design with their 90s adventures is a clever, cheeky, simply perfect answer to this And it was kind of cool that by the time I played games, it was a cornerstone of categories that adventures are the ones where you don't fight and can't die, just talk, explore and use stuff. Ah, old times :)
It is thrilling though, having the possibility of dying most horribly if you don't keep your wits about you. I even like the occasional death that you can't predict come out a surprise you, but I learned to save frequently so I could deal with that. Admittedly a few of the games had more "unfair" situations, I'd say Leisure suit Larry 2 and Gold Rush have some big flaws in how they can make you replay a large portion of the game through no fault of your own.
I love the lucasarts games too as immersive worlds, but they felt to me a little too much like a parent put pads on all the sharp corners, put a grate over the fire and hid the sharp objects, though a little less so with Indiana Jones. But to each their own.
If you want to try a good Sierra series, start with Gabriel Knight, most of the game won't allow you to die and there's no dead ends. And the story is awesome! If your feeling more adventurous, try the Conquests series.
Magus Marquillin I remember playing the demo of GN 3 (I think) in the late 90s. It was the first fully 3D one I think, anyway. I was young, plus didn't speak English yet, so I had no idea what it was about, but it still creeped me out to no end :D I'm just not a fan of scary/creepy stuff. I mean, I'm not a softy, some creepiness is ok if it serves a good story, but I don't like disturbing things too much. Thanks for the suggestions though :) And I get where you're coming from, I'm not trying to diss gamers who like a challenge. I just look for more of a balance between being spoonfed or frustrated to death by a game.
Yeah, It really is a scary sort of story some of the time (the part in the demo was one of the more intense areas), though in a different way then most of the horror gaming genre. Overall the tone is more optimistic while sad, and steeped in history. But I understand If it's not your thing, I'm just excited that the first game's being remade right now, hoping this will lead to more.
Anyway, maybe try a Sierra game every now and again, you might be surprised. The first 3 king's quests, remade by AGDI and released as freeware, are a great place to start. Not technically pure Sierra maybe, but tis Sierra flavor.
Magus Marquillin I just thought of it btw, you could die in Broken Sword 2 (maybe the other ones as well, I haven't gotten round to playing them yet, soon though), and I was ok with that, since it wasn't unfair. The least unfair death in an adventure though probably goes to Neverhood :D
You're only correct in the context of today's games, where there's so many options to give up and go to, so developers will try and avoid this. But back then, each individual game was special, and you gave it the time it needed to get through those crazy bits, and it was an entirely different experience, more thrilling and rewarding when you got through, than anything you'll ever feel going through today's games. No matter how much you think you might've replicated the feeling, it won't be at the same intensity. I know because I've lived through both times. It was a different era.
I remember playing space quest 2...or 3...or maybe it was 1?? But I could NEVER get past this part on a deserted planet with a giant man eating plant. I gave up in my tender age and went back to SNES, haha
I think an important difference between Space Quest and King's Quest is that the latter is big on exploration, while the former is much more linear. This makes it feel more punishing, even though SQ isn't actually deadlier than other Quest games. This makes it much more tedious and frustrating.
I finsished Space Quest, Space Quest 2 and King's Quest IV with solutions, several years ago. Having forgotten nearly everything of said solutions, I recently started KQIV again, trying to get through it on my own. I feel no urge to do so with the SQ games, even though I just bought them on GOG.
Definitely agreed. King's Quest has a lot more "adventuring" appeal. Whereas in SQ1, you're timed from the start and you don't spend too much time in each setting. I would have liked more time to explore, but I get a adrenaline rush with trying to beat the clock.
Aw, I wish I could forget the solutions to these games, having a fresh challenge each time, but they - especially the ones I played early in life - have become too hardwired in my head. Sometimes I might forget a few particulars, but I'll know the general thing I have to do, so it's more like rereading a favorite novel, or a choose your own adventure book.
At least, if you manage to survive the skimmer section in the original version of the game, you can just type "holy shit" to rig the slots in your favor - or guarantee a game over. I managed this game on my own mainly by switching back and forth between the two versions - some puzzles were more obvious in one than the other.
I still need to work my way through this game on the Apple IIgs version. The music and sound is much better. I want to hear the cantina bands play properly!
Same here. I'd love to hear the the Blues Brothers and ZZ Top with better sound.
PushingUpRoses Maybe rent the movie then? :P I finally played all the Sierra AGI games this way a couple years ago, and all the better/new music/sound effects do wonders for immersion. It blew my mind that these classics have always existed this way, isolated as I am in PC culture. The emulator Kegs32 I found not too hard to figure out how to work: www.emaculation.com/kegs32.htm
and what's more all of Sierra AGI ROMS are downloadable from this site: www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/
Though I don't think the Manhunter games are any different this way...and I still couldn't complete Gold Rush...not yet.
This was a great game , i always did like this style a little better then point and click and wish there had been more of a try to give somewhat of a choice to the 2 style of play , Just something about walking up to something and type then clicking on a mouse :) But point and click is still a lot of fun :)
Gotta use the magnet on the slot machine!
Space Quest is my Shiznit!
Speaking of pre-internet walk through difficultuies....I was maybe 6 or 7 (ish) playing Space Quest 2..I never beat that game until my late teens and the glory of learning "PUT GEM IN MOUTH" REALLY!?!?!?!!? But l lurvs me SQ and the Two Guys are my heroes (and Roger, of course)
6:00 well, at least the the spirit will make me companie
I love the Space Quest series. I admit, I didn't really get into Space Quest until I got the Space Quest collection in 1996, I have heard of them though and I loved adventure games and became a instant fan.
I loved the games so much and using my music software I use for composing, I used the MIDI files with my modern libraries and released videos of the rearrangements of the music from the series. Here is the link to the playlist if you want to check it out...
Great video as always Roses. :)
ua-cam.com/play/PLoGfX91HT_XsdXf9XRIMafwqekunWhoKt.html
Oh, be still my heart; another skilled arrangement of these great soundtracks!
And your last name is Holmes, so that adds a lot to your credibility right there. ;)
Thanks for plugging this. I'm listening to the SQ5 right know - it could be a movie score.
deja vu- I opened this link yesterday- it must have been from the FUTURE
Of course the Amiga, Tandy and Apple IIGS versions had better music so the bands in the bar sound better.
You know in DOSBox you can set Sierra AGI games to play Tandy music?
:( Where's the rest of the series? Did you skip to 6?