Sierra Computer Games

[DodgerGirl]

Back in the days Sierra "actual name Sierra On-Line was the biggest name in computer game companies and had created some of the best computer games around. Possibly one of their best known game series was the King's Quest series and that changed the image of adventure/fairy tale like games for the computer since debuting their very first game Mystery House when Sierra was first founded in the 80's. Sierra also made wonderful children's games such as Mixed-Up Mother Goose and Pepper's Adventures In Time. By the end of the 90's Sierra focused more on home based games such as house designing and virtual cookbooks before becoming Sierra Studios. Playing Sierra computer games was fun and my mom really LOVED the King's Quest series and I thought that the Sierra adventure games had neat animation and great graphics and it's a shame that they went broke because the Sierra games were the best around

 

[Communicore1991]

Sierra's games were absolutely amazing and even as a kid I always gravitated toward the boxes of Sierra products and games lined up on the shelves in stores.

 

[DisneyOma]

Had to go do some research, because the games you mentioned did not sound familiar but the brand did. They made all the Hoyle card/casino games my dad loved The last present I ever bought him, a few months before he passed away, was a Hoyle casino game for his PC.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

They made great games.

 

[porschegrl]

Roberta Williams was the queen! Phantasmagoria is probably my favorite game of all time. And Sierra had so many other great ones, too.

 

[JLTraveling]

Roberta Williams was the queen! Phantasmagoria is probably my favorite game of all time. And Sierra had so many other great ones, too.

Phantasmagoria was the best!! That saw through the head at the end though was pretty disturbing for its time, especially if you were like me and kept screwing up the sequence so you got it again and again lol.

And don't forget about Jane Jensen. I still think the Gabriel Knight series was the absolute pinnacle of what adventure games could be. Le Serpent Rouge in Gabriel Knight 3 was everything, and I'm still bitter that 4 never got made.

 

[porschegrl]

Phantasmagoria was the best!! That saw through the head at the end though was pretty disturbing for its time, especially if you were like me and kept screwing up the sequence so you got it again and again lol.

And don't forget about Jane Jensen. I still think the Gabriel Knight series was the absolute pinnacle of what adventure games could be. Le Serpent Rouge in Gabriel Knight 3 was everything, and I'm still bitter that 4 never got made.

Sounds like we had very similar tastes in games! I confess, I don't remember the Gabriel Knight story line, but I do remember playing and loving those, too.

You also reminded me of the idiosyncrasies that I remember fondly, though they could be annoying at the time. Getting the same error sequence, or having to watch the same cut scene over and over. Having to switch out discs periodically, because the whole game didn't fit on one. Getting to a point in the game where you needed something from an earlier scene and having no way to go back (looking at you, Leisure Suit Larry)....

 

[JLTraveling]

Sounds like we had very similar tastes in games! I confess, I don't remember the Gabriel Knight story line, but I do remember playing and loving those, too.

You also reminded me of the idiosyncrasies that I remember fondly, though they could be annoying at the time. Getting the same error sequence, or having to watch the same cut scene over and over. Having to switch out discs periodically, because the whole game didn't fit on one. Getting to a point in the game where you needed something from an earlier scene and having no way to go back (looking at you, Leisure Suit Larry)....

Gabriel Knight was the bookstore owner turned shadow hunter that battled a voodoo cult, then werewolves, then vampires that traced their lineage to the Wandering Jew. And his sidekick Grace was awesome.

You're so right about the glitches! Annoying at the time, but I almost missed them in the GK 20th anniversary re-release. What do you mean I don't have to spend 5 hours digging in the sand for an impossible to see snake scale?! Lol.

 

[sam_gordon]

hehe... I had to google to see if I've played any of their games and I did... Leisure Suit Larry in college in the late 80s.

 

[Katie Dawn]

The only King's Quest we had was the 6th one, where the main character is female (Rosella was her name I think). I LOVED that game so much! (This was in the early to mid-90s). I eventually bought a "cheat" book to figure out how to win, and it was really funny. It was written by Roberta Williams and was intended to only be used when you were desperate for an answer. It would list the question and then the answer was totally obscured by lots of red squiggly marks. It came with a little card that had red plastic that was see through. You had to hold the red plastic card up to the answer to read it.

There were even trick questions in the guide like, "What should I do with the big bad wolf?" and the answer would be like, "Ah HA! Caught you! There's no wolf in this game... QUIT CHEATING!"

Here's what it looked like. You could only read one line at a time through the little window on the card.

And here's a couple screenshots from the game for old times sake!

 

[lovesmurfs]

Yep. Had Leisure Suit Larry and the Land of the Lounge Lizards and the Perils of Rosella. So much late-night fun!

I can still remember the music for Rosella. Thanks for the earworm!

 

[Mysterian]

I remember them well, way back from the Commodore days. They had all those “quest” titled games, Leisuresuit Larry, The Adventures of Willy Beamish, etc. Sierra also did 3D action games like the great Half-Life as well (now owned by Activision).

I miss those old games, along with the old Lucasarts adventures, and even the Infocom stuff. The packing details in the Infocom games alone was something you’ll never see anymore. There’s an app featuring all the Infocom games.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

I was a big fan of Koei games as well,
Especially Bandits Kings of Ancient China

 

[DodgerGirl]

I do remember that King's Quest game because my mom also had it and I believe it was called The Perils Of Rosella and the storyline for that game is really really sad because when it first begins King Graham announces the next heir to the throne when suddenly King Graham gets very sick and might die and so Rosella wants to try to save him. I won't spoil the rest but it's a really neat game. My dad and I actually bought my mom the entire King's Quest collection for her birthday and she started solving King's Quest 5 and 6 which King's Quest 6 is a really romantic game where you play Alexander the son of King Graham as he tries to meet and marry his crush Princess Cassima when she begs for his help. But I can honestly say that Sierra was the best at adventure games and they really knew their stuff. Another game that was in the same adventure game type of vein was Quest For Glory that is also great too

 

[MamaMermaid]

Kings Quest 6 is my absolute favorite. I have VERY fond memories playing with my dad and making Alexander do dumb stuff! I miss my Dad AND Kings Quest a lot!

 

[DodgerGirl]

Had to go do some research, because the games you mentioned did not sound familiar but the brand did. They made all the Hoyle card/casino games my dad loved The last present I ever bought him, a few months before he passed away, was a Hoyle casino game for his PC.

Were the Hoyle games those Sierra games that you could play chess checkers backgammon and cards with various Sierra game characters? Because I remember my mom also got a King's Quest Hoyle game with her King's Quest collection package and you play against King Graham in backgammon and checkers. I also remember that Sierra made later Hoyle games with a facemaker so you could design your likeness and character as well

 

[DisneyOma]

Were the Hoyle games those Sierra games that you could play chess checkers backgammon and cards with various Sierra game characters? Because I remember my mom also got a King's Quest Hoyle game with her King's Quest collection package and you play against King Graham in backgammon and checkers. I also remember that Sierra made later Hoyle games with a facemaker so you could design your likeness and character as well

I don't really remember - just that my dad loved the games, and he'd play for hours, driving my mom nuts!

 

[GAN]

hehe... I had to google to see if I've played any of their games and I did... Leisure Suit Larry in college in the late 80s.

Wow ...that's a name I literally haven't heard in 30-years! Maybe it's time for his comeback....

Edit: apparently Larry is still "active", some of the titles couldn't be shown on these boards due to the double entendre. I can't say I ever played any of these games but remember the controversy at the time. I mean ..who knew

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Had to go do some research, because the games you mentioned did not sound familiar but the brand did. They made all the Hoyle card/casino games my dad loved The last present I ever bought him, a few months before he passed away, was a Hoyle casino game for his PC.

I loved the Hoyle Board and Card Games series. There was an earlier version that was set in a cabin with the games being removed from the shelves. A later version was Hoyle Puzzle and Board Games which I loved even more, given the diversity included, but I really missed the atmosphere of the cabin. The dialogue from the AI characters could be hilarious. We still occasionally say, "Cassa-roll-me-over!"

I have looked to see if anything similar exists for the iPad, I would pay good money to get that back, but alas, it seems to be lost to the sands of time. You can get an app for games like chess, checkers, Othello, backgammon, etc. individually, but the collection itself, along with the speaking players was just such a "chef's kiss" perfect experience.

 

[RamblingMad]

Are you reading Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow?