Good Old Games Hiding Zork Behind Police Tape

[pacati]

There so many torrents out there that are used with DosBox or AppleWin emulators... How can you be a nerd from that era and not be aware of these things by now? I was forced to discover them after the Sierra Collection I bought used REMAKES of KQ1, SQ1 and PQ1 instead of the original code. In torrentland, you can have the original, the remake, every zork ever made, whatever, all compatible with windows 7, joysticks/xbox controllers, etc etc etc.

Anybody who is trying to market these games at this point for profit hasn't done their homework. But then that's not surprising, I guess. If these people knew what the gamers wanted more often, many of us wouldn't have had to resort to torrentland in the first place.

I mean seriously, who the holy fuck wants to play the VGA _REMAKE_ of kq1?

At least include the original coded version. But no, Sierra has hidden it away like Disney hides Song of the South, and George Lucas hides The Star Wars Holiday Special (another couple items that can only be picked up illegally).

 

[Miral]

Anybody who is trying to market these games at this point for profit hasn't done their homework. But then that's not surprising, I guess. If these people knew what the gamers wanted more often, many of us wouldn't have had to resort to torrentland in the first place.

Hardly. When you offer to sell things, often people buy them. Particularly when those things are good things. Even if they're available elsewhere, even if that's cheaper, and especially if the "elsewhere" is dubious or outright illegal. Getting any amount of money for such old games is probably a "win" in their books, and there is no doubt they will be getting quite a bit of it.

I mean seriously, who the holy fuck wants to play the VGA _REMAKE_ of kq1?

I played and enjoyed both the original and the remake of KQ1. And similarly for SQ1 and the others. Just because it's a remake doesn't make it inferior. (And before you ask: I bought them legit, about 10 years ago in the form of the KQ Collection; this had the whole series except KQ8.)

 

[pacati]

Anybody who is trying to market these games at this point for profit hasn't done their homework. But then that's not surprising, I guess. If these people knew what the gamers wanted more often, many of us wouldn't have had to resort to torrentland in the first place.

Hardly. When you offer to sell things, often people buy them. Particularly when those things are good things. Even if they're available elsewhere, even if that's cheaper, and especially if the "elsewhere" is dubious or outright illegal. Getting any amount of money for such old games is probably a "win" in their books, and there is no doubt they will be getting quite a bit of it.

I mean seriously, who the holy fuck wants to play the VGA _REMAKE_ of kq1?

I played and enjoyed both the original and the remake of KQ1. And similarly for SQ1 and the others. Just because it's a remake doesn't make it inferior. (And before you ask: I bought them legit, about 10 years ago in the form of the KQ Collection; this had the whole series except KQ8.)

You recall wrong. The KQ Collection was one of the ones I referred to. About 5 years ago I bought the SQ, PQ and KQ Collections that were released on their own CD-ROMs to be compatible with Windows XP. They do NOT have the non-remakes (of kq1, sq1 and pq1). If they had, I wouldn't have discovered torrents, as you seem to have missed me pointing out in your dire urgency to correct me.

That much is fact. It is my additional opinion, however, that anyone who liked the remakes has no soul. But you can argue that all you like, as if it's not a matter of opinion.

And why are you reading a dead thread anyway? Why am I replying? Oh yeah, the mail thing. Better delete the next notice on this, if there is one. I'm here to discuss things, and you're here to argue. Hadn't you heard, arguing on the internet is pointless? I hear it, I just forget it sometimes.

 

[Miral]

You recall wrong. The KQ Collection was one of the ones I referred to. About 5 years ago I bought the SQ, PQ and KQ Collections that were released on their own CD-ROMs to be compatible with Windows XP. They do NOT have the non-remakes (of kq1, sq1 and pq1). If they had, I wouldn't have discovered torrents, as you seem to have missed me pointing out in your dire urgency to correct me.

Ooh, them's fightin' words.

Behold, disc 1 of the KQ Collection:
[http://s1143.photobucket.com/albums/n638/uecasm/?action=view¤t=KqCollectionDisc.jpg]
And behold its contents, which include both versions of KQ1:
[http://s1143.photobucket.com/albums/n638/uecasm/?action=view¤t=KqCollectionFiles.png]

Perhaps you are referring to a different release with a similar name, but the one I bought definitely had both older and newer versions (it came on three CDs and included all sorts of other Roberta Williams games too, such as the Laura Bow games and an Apple emulator with some even older titles).

If you want similar screenshots for SQ1, I can provide those too. I don't recall there even being a remake for PQ1, though, but I might be wrong about that. (Edit: I just checked my PQC discs, and you're right, there were two versions of PQ1, but I totally don't remember the VGA remake. Maybe that was the bad one...)

It is my additional opinion, however, that anyone who liked the remakes has no soul. But you can argue that all you like, as if it's not a matter of opinion.

Oh, of course it's all subjective. And I won't deny that the originals are better than the remakes. But the remakes are still fun to play -- it's just that everyone ought to play both versions.

And why are you reading a dead thread anyway? Why am I replying? Oh yeah, the mail thing. Better delete the next notice on this, if there is one. I'm here to discuss things, and you're here to argue. Hadn't you heard, arguing on the internet is pointless? I hear it, I just forget it sometimes.

Oh, I know. And I try not to. But every once in a while this [http://xkcd.com/386/] bites me. It's nothing personal.

(As for why I'm reading a dead thread, it's because I tend to read the Escapist during lunch breaks at work, and due to holidays and other events I had gotten a month behind, and was catching up.)

(Additional Edit: I checked wikipedia, and apparently they've re-released these quite a few times [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King's_Quest#Collections]; I bought the 1997 "Collection Series" one.)