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Space Quest 5
1 Playsin 4 hours
Ben & Jess finally get back to the long delayed Space Quest series discussion, picking up at the next game.
Quest Quest podcast is Ben Vigeant and Jess Morrissette.
Editing by Ben Vigeant
Show art by Kevin "WilcoWeb" Wallace
Watch us on Twitch!
Ben: https://www.twitch.tv/ps_garak
Jess: https://www.twitch.tv/decafjedi
Give us a review, they help people find this show! Unless you hated it, in which case, don't.
Talk with us on Discord!
https://discord.gg/ve9fqjgPp2
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Transcript
Ben's Grammy Frustration & Kids' Choice Awards
00:00:29
Speaker
Jess, I've got a bone to pick. Uh-oh. This is our new segment. Ben picks a bone. All right. Femur. oh Jess, I got You know, I did ah two weeks ago, I believe. Not last week because we had that fun interview.
00:00:48
Speaker
But two weeks ago, I did that hilarious bit where I i came up with ah ah lyrics ah to the song. And I have not received a Grammy.
00:01:02
Speaker
Yeah. Where does that put you on your EGOT hunt?
00:01:08
Speaker
uh the so well grammy was the first one i was going for oh so you're going for the yacht yeah i was going for yeah yeah because you do most people do start with do it in that order emmy grammy oscar tony mean it's like the escalation of the arts from most like trivial and disposable to serious true art on the stage that's right that's right And, but I have not received a Grammy yet.
00:01:38
Speaker
from ah So what the hell, you know what, this is what ah Bill Maher was talking about. i was, I've been soft canceled. Oh, wow. Yeah. No. I mean, is there any word from the kids choice awards?
00:01:51
Speaker
Oh, I have 20 kids choice awards. Oh, you know, I've seen that clip of you getting slimed on stage with Katy Perry. Is that what that was from? Yes. that's Yes. Yes. I was. That makes so much more sense. Slimed on stage ah with and by.
00:02:11
Speaker
we were slimed. Well, she slimed me and then we were slimed together. think that was the order. Anyway, this is Quest Quest, the adventure game podcast.
Podcast Introduction & Dinner Discussions
00:02:19
Speaker
I'm Ben. I'm Jess. You can follow us both on Twitch where we stream adventure games. I'm DecafJedi. And I'm PS underscore Garrick.
00:02:30
Speaker
G-A-R-A-K. That's right. And, uh, yeah, this is our podcast where we talk about adventure games and, uh, you know, that's, uh, that's the only thing we talk about. We are very like on topic. We're straightforward. Yeah. We don't get distracted no about all this nonsense you hear on other podcasts. Right now, Jess.
00:02:51
Speaker
So for, for dinner, I had some leftovers tonight. I made, um these ah ah beef ginger rice bowls that were delicious.
00:03:04
Speaker
oh Oh, I like beef ginger rice bowl. Yeah, you know, was having a little fun. i was, you know, I just, you you put some sesame on top and a couple green onions on top or or scallions.
00:03:21
Speaker
Some people call them scallions. Some people call them green onions. Yeah. And then, you know what? Me and Booker T and the MGs call them green onions. Oh.
00:03:32
Speaker
Yeah. But that was ah that was what I i made. It's
00:03:41
Speaker
it's one of those things where I made it exactly to the recipe, and I think I'm just going to be eating this forever. i don't I don't think this is ever going to run out.
00:03:53
Speaker
yeah yeah no i mean i had tonight like my own version of uh kind of like a poke bowl that i threw together where are we are we bowling it we're bowling we're we're let's bowl baby yeah no no i did uh i did a nice little piece of salmon uh with some uh with some chilean butter sauce on it and uh Then over some rice with some wasabi and edamame and broccoli and a little bit sweet soy sauce. I'm all about the sweet soy sauce right now. You're ah you're a sweet soy boy.
00:04:31
Speaker
That's what they're calling me everywhere. But, you know, they say in front of the season afterwards, complimentary. um Yeah. So, no, yeah, absolutely. It was delightful. it's There's nothing better than nice rice bowl.
Manwich & Sloppy Joe Debates
00:04:45
Speaker
Man, well, and that brings us to our sponsor, ah Rice Bowls. Mm-hmm. The concept. You love them. yeah Yeah. You love them, you eat them.
00:04:58
Speaker
Put shit on top of them. It could be poke. It could be ginger beef. It could be gochujang chicken with bok choy, which I made earlier this week. It could be manwich.
00:05:12
Speaker
Could be manwich. and was't manwi hours I don't think I've ever had man, which, uh, Jess. Yeah. I mean, it is, I mean, really probably the most masculine thing about me is the, uh, is the man, which is I consume daily. That's a, that's i about a daily regimen of man, which, what is man, which again,
00:05:38
Speaker
It's like a sloppy Joe. That's what I thought. In a can. Yes. Now, I think you add it to beef. I think the can is just like... Oh, so the beef, there isn't beef in the manwich?
00:05:51
Speaker
You know? The manwich is something of ah ah a... malone A bold sauce for deliciously satisfying sloppy Joes, according to their website. So, yeah, it is just... So it's just a can of sauce. Yeah. It's just a can of mostly tomato sauce. I would wager like, I'm guessing that's going to be your number one ingredient is it's a seasoned tomato sauce and nothing else. Now, what makes it so manly? Is it like, have you served it, uh, to your, your wife and daughter and I'm like, Oh, Oh, Oh, pH balanced for a man. Yeah, he couldn't possibly. Yeah, no. What is this? Oh!
00:06:38
Speaker
what is this oh No, no, it's impossible. um what do What do you have? ah What do you serve? Are you having a sloppy Joe on ah a roll?
00:06:51
Speaker
having that? What you serving? I mean, I don't i don't eat sloppy Joe's, but if I'm having one, I'll have it on like, you know, if I were having a sloppy Joe. If you were having it. let's say the world is ending and you're like, ah shit, before I die, I have to eat a meal. Then you open
Chili Interpretations & Cultural Perceptions
00:07:06
Speaker
up the fridge and you see a, a, a pound of ground beef and every possible bread. Yeah. And I have to choose. Yeah. Yeah. yeah It's a, it's a, a very sad iron chef.
00:07:18
Speaker
okay No, I'm going to eat that with just like a hamburger bundle. If I'm thinking if I have a few choices, um, I don't think I go brioche because it doesn't stand up to a saucy sandwich. Well, it tends to disintegrate a little bit.
00:07:33
Speaker
um I think Hawaiian roll could be good. Potentially, but I think if I'm putting together my best possible sloppy Joe, I'm probably going with a potato bun.
00:07:45
Speaker
I think that a potato hamburger bun is how I'm eating my sloppy Joe. Can you think I just had this. mental image of an absolute maniac being a sloppy Joe out of a hot dog bun.
00:07:59
Speaker
Can you imagine like just the visual of that? i I mean, I've had chili dogs, but that's different. I mean, I've just had chili dogs. So you're, you're saying it's, you have to have a hot dog in there in order for that to, I mean, I've had a chili dog with just the chili, but And I mean, ostensibly and even visually, Chili looks a lot like sloppy Joe.
00:08:19
Speaker
But if someone told me, oh I'm having a sloppy Joe, and I saw him like jam a lamb hot dog bun into their mouth, I would be like, who do you think you Joey Chesta? Kobayashi?
00:08:31
Speaker
What's your deal here, bro? is Because I'm trying to think, I think that does exist. I think a ah ah hot dog bun with just chili on it probably yeah does exist. and That does, absolutely. Yeah, that's fine. But chili is a very different animal than Sloppy Joe, even when they may share 80% of the exact same ingredients, maybe 90%.
00:08:56
Speaker
I mean, really, depending on what type of ah like what type of regional chili. I mean, you're literally a skyline chili. Yeah. Yeah. A thin chocolatey a meal to put on top of spaghetti.
00:09:12
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, honestly, you could slice up some zucchini and saute it, and there are parts of this country i'd be like, that's chili all right. So, yeah, chili can't anything. Yeah, no, I mean, yeah at this point, i think that chili is more of ah of an abstract concept. The way that our Supreme Court is, absolutely.
00:09:35
Speaker
We don't even know what a fucking chili is. Yeah, that's right. I mean, just that's um that's America for you. We invented chili and now we don't even know what it is anymore. ah Just like democracy. And yeah, but very good, Dr. Morissette. Now, you know, in Chicago, I've never had this, but I am curious. This doesn't this doesn't seem texturally be something that I think would be good, but
00:10:07
Speaker
I, you know, i come with an open, with open arms and an open heart. um In Chicago, on the South Side, you can get a mother-in-law sandwich.
00:10:21
Speaker
A mother-in-law sandwich made out of real mother-in-laws? No, no. A mother-in-law sandwich is ah tamale topped with chili served in a hot dog bun.
00:10:34
Speaker
e see that's the part that's the yeah like i feel like that could eat dry well that's why you have the chili there yeah but is it is it is it juicy chili oh it's cheicy juicy juicy chili i got that juicy chili yeah but here's the thing i don't know if i if i believe in this being good but i i have to try it I can see how there is a world where
Transition to Gaming Discussion
00:11:03
Speaker
it is good. Like if you haven't solved the dry problem, surely you have stopped making this dish. The fact that it exists long enough to be well known suggests they've solved the most obvious texture issue of what it would be like to have a tamale wrapped in bread.
00:11:21
Speaker
Yeah. Speaking of tamales wrapped in bread, Jess, what have you been playing? Oh my goodness, Ben. Let me tell
00:11:39
Speaker
We like to do that joke every six or seven episodes. But I've been seven times an episode. All right. Hey Ben, hey Ben. Six, seven. oh good, good, good.
00:11:50
Speaker
Six, seven. Good.
Windows 95 Nostalgia & Space Cadet Pinball
00:11:56
Speaker
been playing around with, I installed for the first time 86 Box, which is virtual machine sort of program. It it works a lot like VirtualBox or whatever. that Basically, I've installed a really nice Windows 95 setup on it. Oh, this is what ah you made your Simpsons screensavers thing. Yeah, yeah. I've been using it to play around in Windows 95. VirtualBox, you can easily set up Windows 95, but it's difficult to get things like 3D card support and anything other than a very basic sound card support.
00:12:40
Speaker
This one makes it very easy to emulate specific models of computers with specific hardware profiles. So I have like a voodoo card. Yeah, can I just like put in a thing and say a Gateway 2000 from 1996 that my parents got? Can I just type that in? That's the sort of thing. It has like a drop-down list that includes several Gateway models.
00:13:02
Speaker
Oh, fuck. It will even like do the BIOS when it boots up of that system. So like when I boot it up, I have like an energy saver logo and everything that comes up with it. Oh, wow. So it is very nice simulation. And once I got Windows 95 up and running on it, I've been able to kind of just do any sort of Windows 95 thing I can do.
00:13:23
Speaker
And let me tell you what I did just earlier today that I didn't realize how satisfying it would be. I loaded up. I haven't degaussed yet.
00:13:33
Speaker
But load up Space Cadet 3D Pinball. Yeah. And let me tell you, it was like pure ASMR to me. That's what got me. like yeah I mean, the game, it still plays pretty well for a simple pack-in pinball machine.
00:13:52
Speaker
But the sound effects of that, I probably haven't heard them. know all of them. Yeah, yeah in like 15 or 20 years. And the little team. And it was warm blanket wrapped around me just getting to experience all of those sounds i love so much. I would play that game obsessively back in the day. Like it was, i was never a big minesweeper or solitaire guy.
00:14:15
Speaker
But give me little bit of that Space Cadet pinball.
Gaming Philosophy: Restarting After Failure
00:14:18
Speaker
Oh, man, that's good stuff. That's good stuff.
00:14:28
Speaker
are you with the rules of Space Cadet? Like, do you level... Like, do you do the missions? Do you level up the engine and all that stuff?
00:14:38
Speaker
This time around, i just sort of goofed off and stuff. But yeah, back in the day, i was working hard to like do everything I could in Space Cadet. Yeah, I know. because you can You can do some... It it actually has a fairly impressive set of pinball rules for a game that came free with Microsoft Plus.
00:15:00
Speaker
Yeah. I wonder, Ben, can you tell me this? when I know that you play a lot of video game pinball.
00:15:11
Speaker
Yep. How... tempted are you when you play video game pinball to get a restart after a bad first ball?
00:15:23
Speaker
Like, can you tolerate a bad first ball and let your game continue? This is a wonderful discussion. This is a great discussion. Because also, here's the thing. You don't have to limit this to video game pinball. If I'm at a place where the like you know I'm not burning quarters, if it's like a friend who has a pinball machine...
00:15:45
Speaker
Um, will I do it then? Oh. What's your answer? Because if I have a bad first ball, I'm hitting that restart button so fast in a video pinball game.
00:15:56
Speaker
I... I think this is... i'm gonna I'm gonna zoom out from pinball here and and say this philosophically. Like, for any arcade game or anything, any game where you can fail in the first, let's say, 20 seconds, 30 seconds,
00:16:14
Speaker
thirty uh, do you, because I assume it's consistent. Like if you're, if you're playing Galaga, like you're emulating Galaga. was just gonna say, yeah, this is a problem in Galaga for me that I didn't think of until you started going down this direction. Yeah. Same thing, if I like lose a ship on level two or three, it's like this obviously isn't going be a good run. I'm not going deep on this one.
00:16:38
Speaker
Might as well reset. So, so here's my thing is that I try to fight. I do it sometimes, but try to fight that urge because I don't, I don't like it.
00:16:53
Speaker
I don't like it either. I don't it. do it, but i don't like it. Yeah,
Space Cadet Pinball's Origins & 90s Screensavers
00:16:57
Speaker
I don't like it. So I do it sometimes, but I like, I generally try to avoid it.
00:17:05
Speaker
That's my, because yeah, like it's like any, if I'm playing any anything, like that it has kind of arcade style, you have limited lives and like, and you could die right away. So that could be pinball, it could be Galaga, it be Centipede, whatever.
00:17:26
Speaker
But like even modern games or like throwback games, if I'm playing, That, uh, oh, I'm gonna have to look up his name. Uh, Pac-Man? The, uh, modern, uh, Sektori.
00:17:41
Speaker
The, uh, recent, like, Geometry Wars type game. Like, if I'm playing that and I die early on like, I'm tempted to restart. But I try to hold on because it's like, especially...
00:17:55
Speaker
lives in that game and in pinball and in all the games that like, it has to be a game where a life is so precious that like, you know, it's not like you're playing Mario one and he just fell off the first screen. gonna be Yeah. an Extra lives.
00:18:08
Speaker
Yeah. I'll just stop on some turtles in that situation. yeah But you know, in most situations, that's never a bad idea. You know, give, you give me that a replicant test. I'll tell you what going to I'm going stomp on that turtle.
00:18:21
Speaker
Mm-hmm. good Good luck, boy, comping me. I know how to defeat that turtle right away. He doesn't stand a chance. It's already prone. Once they're on their back, you just kick them and their shell goes flying.
00:18:36
Speaker
be yeah Yeah. You know, I think this is actually an area where Hades was valuable for me in that there were several times when I would get like a run that felt like it was off to a bad start. I'm getting bad boons.
00:18:50
Speaker
The rooms aren't popping like I need them to pop and stuff. I don't play a lot roguelikes, so this is a new experience for me. And I think Hades trained me with a little more patience, but Space Cadet just wiped all that away. It's just like, oh, I hit that restart button. Bad ball. did you Did you know that Space Cadet is from a Maxis-published pinball pack of three tables, and they picked Space Cadet of those three?
00:19:21
Speaker
Did you know that? No, I didn't. And because I had... It was in this game called Full Tilt. And...
00:19:32
Speaker
I don't know, there's a little bit of different art in it, but I don't think there's any other real differences in the versions of Space Cadet. Like, it looks very, very slightly different. Yeah, I think I've seen screenshots of the original. They're just some, like, visual tweaks here and there, if I recall, yeah. But the here's the funny thing is those other two pinball tables in that pack, there's no Space Cadet. Whoever it was at Microsoft that was like, we're going to make Windows Plus.
00:20:03
Speaker
And we have to have a pack-in, like, it's like they're going through, it's like we need a pack-in game and we need a really great screensaver. And that person picked Space Cadet and that haunted house screensaver. That haunted house is very good. There's nothing wrong that haunted house.
00:20:21
Speaker
I remember the first time I saw haunted house screensaver and I thought, what's going on in that house? I gotta get in there. That looks like some sort of house of horrors.
00:20:33
Speaker
I have not watched your Simpsons video yet. The screensavers. it It looks like people are quite interested in it. You did doing some numbers on it. It's doing all right for me, you know, for a small channel.
00:20:49
Speaker
But I was i was like, man, screensavers like were big business in the 90s. They really were like dad did that. You could sell a pack of screensavers for like 19 bucks or 25 bucks or or something like that. And then especially the after dark ones are fascinating to me in that a lot of them are very loud and obnoxious and distracting. It's like, I don't need a screensaver where, you know, I can hear it three rooms away making sound effects at me. It seems like such a weird idea. And it it's why I think they don't even really function as screensavers so much. It's just like little fun toys to look at for a minute.
00:21:36
Speaker
Little animation toys. Yeah. Yeah. And have to say, I had festooned my installation of Windows 95 back in college with so many scratchy, hissy Simpsons waves already.
00:21:51
Speaker
It's like it felt right at home. You know, like my startup sound, I think, was Homer going, computers can do that. Or so, you know, like that line. And, you know, computers were it was it was a much better time.
00:22:04
Speaker
Yeah, no, it really was. way It really was. Every single, you pushed every single button, it made a sound effect on Windows. Yeah. That way you knew that you were getting feedback and knew when you were interacting with the OS. That's right. That's right.
Ben's Retro Gaming Experiences: Atari 2600
00:22:18
Speaker
But Ben, i think what I need to know is what have you been playing? Jess, I'm gonna bring up game. Now, I'm bringing up a game from 1977.
00:22:32
Speaker
1977. I am going bring up the game for Atari 2600 Combat.
00:22:37
Speaker
oh good year i was born in nineteen seventy seven
00:22:44
Speaker
to bring up the game for the atari twenty six
00:22:52
Speaker
Oh, man. Have you ever played combat? I forget. Ben, I have a combat cartridge on my shelf at work. I love combat. One of the first games I ever remember playing.
00:23:11
Speaker
for some background, for for anyone that is unfamiliar with the Atari VCSs or the 2600s, twenty six hundred Uh, combat. Or the Mega Drive as it was known in the UK.
00:23:24
Speaker
Um, it, uh, it was, I believe, the Packin game. Yes. For the 2600.
00:23:43
Speaker
And it is tank, like, and there's a bunch of different modes in it. There's tank combat. There's plane combat.
00:23:54
Speaker
Is it just the tanks and the planes? It may just be tanks and planes. I don't think did he there's yeah and there are variations on both. But then there's all sorts of variations. It's like ah certain ones.
00:24:06
Speaker
There might be different clouds for planes to hide behind or a different
00:24:13
Speaker
like a different blocks or layout, like a different arena for the tanks, or it could be dark and you could only see the tanks or the planes when they fire. Yes. Very clever. And all it is is that you're you're flying these two, like, or if you're a tank...
00:24:32
Speaker
It's tank controls. And if it's plane, the plane is always moving and you could just push up and down and fire. And your objective is just to shoot the other guy.
00:24:45
Speaker
That's the game. Yeah. Oh, it's so satisfying the tanks, how they like scoot back across the screen while they spin around. Yeah. So...
00:24:59
Speaker
Uh, I have a lot of fond memories of playing combat. Uh, as a kid, we had a 2600, uh, playing it with, uh, my siblings, uh, from time to time.
00:25:10
Speaker
Uh, it's always been, like, in my head of, like, You know, just not only a killer 2600 game, but also an incredible launch game.
00:25:20
Speaker
Like, up there with Wii Sports. Because it's like, here's a game that is like, it's a pure type of very entertaining multiplayer, right?
00:25:31
Speaker
Yeah. And... So...
00:25:43
Speaker
So the, uh, I, uh, uh, was recently hanging out with my boyfriend. were playing, uh, video games and, uh, we've, his, he, he loves classic arcade cabinets.
00:25:58
Speaker
And so when we go to the arcade, he'll play pinball with me. And then, then we play Dick Doug and Matthew, which are his games. He's a Dick Doug and Matthew. Gotta love Dig Dug.
00:26:12
Speaker
And you don't have strong feelings about Mappy, though? Not particularly. Mappy was never my game. There was one at our local um like feed store, Schuler's, but I never really played much of it.
00:26:27
Speaker
So
00:26:30
Speaker
we were hanging out and playing some old arcade games over here. And I was like, you know, you might be like, he's he he has he's never played at 2600. And so I was like, let's play this. And I put combat on.
00:26:50
Speaker
You want to know what? green what We played combat. It still hits. It's still good. It's still good for someone with no, like who's never played combat, who doesn't have the warm memories of growing up with combat.
00:27:08
Speaker
Now, let me say this, like to give you a sense, I mentioned earlier how satisfying it was to like really rocket tank in that game and just send it scattering across the yeah screen.
00:27:21
Speaker
I have to admit, as a child, I enjoyed combat so much that I would occasionally sit with both controllers and just maneuver one of the tanks into my line of sight.
00:27:31
Speaker
and shoot it with my controller just to experience the high of, of I guess, killing enemy combatant.
00:27:43
Speaker
There's nothing like it. it's It's really good. And then we and then we went and we played some other great 2600 games. But combat was the one. and We went through all the the variations.
00:27:55
Speaker
hank You know, we did the planes. We did the one where the bullets bounce around. Yes. Ben, did I tell you I recently bought a 2600 game on eBay? Did I tell you the story?
00:28:09
Speaker
No, you didn't tell me that you purchased the 2600 game on eBay. Well, I was, I'd recently gathered all of the ingredients for making lemon drop martinis at home.
00:28:24
Speaker
Okay, is a good start. I made for my wife and I some lemon drop martinis. And I think i only had two lemon drop martinis, but I was making the mistake, like after I would finish the shaker and pour both of our glasses, I'd be like, I'll just finish off the little bit of drink that's in the shaker. And I think each one was the equivalent of like an additional glass of lemon drop martinis. So fast it's say as someone who doesn't drink very often, I was a little bit, uh, a little bit buzzed on lemon drop martinis and I was looking at eBay, which is a bad combination. And as I was scrolling through, i saw a copy
00:29:09
Speaker
E.T. Another game that I enjoyed as a kid, Inbox with Manual, Not Buried in the Desert. And i tried to do the like make an offer button thing.
00:29:22
Speaker
and I was gonna try to lowball the seller on it, because you know, why not? And accidentally clicked buy it now instead. So now I have a copy of ET for the 2600 that I bought while drunk. And I don't honestly don't think that purchase should count. I think that eBay should have refunded that when I explained to them I was not of sound mind and body when I when i made that choice. Do you have a 2600?
00:29:47
Speaker
I don't. No, no, I don't. I did briefly have a lot of those. They did. You get or maybe one of those new things that like you can plug cartridges in. Maybe what I love about the copy of ET I accidentally bought, though, is it has the price tag on the box.
00:30:07
Speaker
And then several additional price tags discounting it, which is like, that's what made me so curious about this copy. It's like, oh, man, multiple discount price tags is is telling the story of E.T.
00:30:23
Speaker
well So you said you liked E.T. as a kid. No, no, no, no. I played E.T. as a kid. It's maybe one of the, that and Smurf Rescue from Gargamel's Castle or whatever that game was. Is that the one for Because that game's incredibly difficult.
00:30:39
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Those are two of the first games I remember ever playing, along with combat. And E.T., you know, I realize now, after looking at the manual for it, I never had a manual for E.T., and I had no clue how that game was supposed to work as like a four-year-old.
00:30:56
Speaker
Yeah, my my understanding of E.T. is that if you if you read the manual and you understand what you're supposed to do, it is not as bad a game yeah then you just have to get used to like the wonky controls and stuff but i had the like problem i'm constantly falling in pits and i don't even know what i'm supposed to be doing to no i mean and and and still it's not yeah i mean and that was my experience with raiders the lost ark too on 2600 it's like the raiders of the lost ark that required i believe you to use the second controller yes as like as one player yes and without instructions that's hard to discern
00:31:37
Speaker
Yeah. The, yeah. I mean, you know, as they, they, they say this in the, like the documentary materials of Atari 50, but they're like, you know, the 2600 was just made to play like pong.
00:31:52
Speaker
Yes. And, uh, so it's like every, everything, everything that goes beyond that is very impressive.
00:32:04
Speaker
That checks out. That checks out. like um anyway and yeah because it's like i think uh like i think cartridge or uh combat is on like a ah two kilobyte cartridge or something or maybe even smaller like something insane oh yeah they nailed it though yeah it's and and you know what we don't need any other video games to be honest no that's why i have a physical copy in case all the other ones go away You have a, oh, that's right. You do. um Yeah.
00:32:36
Speaker
In case the rapture occurs and it's the only one left behind the video game rapture. Yeah. and you have your Not the one from Bioshock. Just to clarify here. No, no, no, no. The one written about in the Bible.
Listener Email & Space Quest V Discussion
00:32:51
Speaker
Well, well, Jess, ah I have a an email and it's oh really real. Oh, yeah. I always love hearing from our listeners. You know, if you want to send us an email, our email address is questquestpodcast at gmail.com.
00:33:08
Speaker
This is a real ah email. that's And you keep saying real. Yeah. Well, it's not something I've made up to to, you know, TSF for this subject.
00:33:20
Speaker
This is like when I see some product that obviously gluten-free, really blasting all over its packaging how it's gluten-free. It's like, you know, Sprite Zero, gluten-free.
00:33:34
Speaker
And it makes me start to wonder. It's like, well, I never thought there was gluten in Sprite. But you're talking so much about how gluten-free you are. Now I'm afraid that there could be some gluten in this Sprite.
00:33:44
Speaker
So when you say real email... I mean, please go I'm sorry. interrupting. read this real email. Ben and Jess, I'm a huge fan.
00:33:55
Speaker
It says emphasis here. Really big. You two are so great and funny. I love you both. Oh, we love you too. But when are you finally going to get to more Space Quest?
00:34:09
Speaker
You know what I'm talking about. From someone else. Wow. Well, thank you, but someone else. Yeah. You know, like, uh, what a, what a incredible, ah email that we received from but someone else.
00:34:26
Speaker
Yes. Now a quest request, if you will. Yeah. This is, you know, So so i read this email and I've been thinking about it. And Jess, whoever this is that sent this email has a good point.
00:34:40
Speaker
Is it Tom? We've been teasing this. We've been teasing this. It's here. Unfortunately, no one reads the title of this podcast. So this punchline I'm building to will absolutely work, which is, you know what, Jess? Let's do it.
00:34:56
Speaker
Let's talk about Space Quest V. Oh!
00:35:06
Speaker
Jess and I are both bopping our heads. I mean, spoiler alert the next 45 minutes to an hour, Ben and I are going to talk a lot about how we just love everything about Space Quest V, the next mutation, right up to and including this theme song, inspired by the Star Trek original series theme song version of the Space Quest theme.
00:35:32
Speaker
mean, it's fabulous. Listen to that bass. Yeah, so let's start here. Space Quest V, I think
00:35:42
Speaker
oh let's start here spacequest five i
00:35:47
Speaker
The music in Space Quest V is exceptional. Now you can say, and you could say this as an overall criticism of Space Quest We'll get to the substance and what the plot, everything of it is.
00:36:03
Speaker
Don't worry. You thought it would loop there, but actually it's doing something else.
00:36:13
Speaker
But you could say... that uh this theme and the theme at the opening of the game and a lot of uh the game itself we'll we'll talk about that is as jess said a little too uh star trek-y and i i would say having listened to a bunch of the music today to prepare for this the opening theme is a little too straightforwardly tos theme just you know kind of filed off and made a little silly
00:36:46
Speaker
But this piece of music, I think, is exceptional. Oh, absolutely. And I think the difference here where it it doesn't feel like a ripoff is that this also sounds like game show music. Yes, it really does. It's the exact intersection of like, it's like if Alexander Courage did a game show theme and and that's what would come out. There's, there's i think...
00:37:11
Speaker
i You know, there's a bit of an intersection of your TOS music, which is very like the the theme that they do at the start of Space Quest five is very bongo heavy. This is very bass heavy with a bit of the bongo.
00:37:29
Speaker
i but this, this, it, it covers that intersection between like Star Trek music and seventies, like, you know, the newlywed game.
00:37:42
Speaker
Yeah. I think it's the Marimba. I think it exists in both of those simultaneously somehow now.
Space Quest V's Development & Star Trek Parody
00:37:48
Speaker
ah But you know what? They also did in addition, some very good, like tense music like this,
00:37:58
Speaker
This is the tune that plays think it's like Clorox 2 or whatever. Clorox 2, yeah. And... Does this scare you to hear, Ben?
00:38:11
Speaker
Oh, this is very scary music. We've talked before about how this is the lead up one of your most dramatic early gaming memories. Oh, yeah. And we'll get there.
00:38:21
Speaker
unpack all of it. But I mean, this is just straightforwardly spooky music. It's very good. Yeah. So there's this Clorox 2. Then we have the WD-40 chase music.
00:38:37
Speaker
Yes.
00:38:42
Speaker
Which is just the fat song from Arena sort of remix. Yeah. You know what? I never thought of it that way. But yeah, I guess it is a little bit of... Like, because Arena is...
00:38:59
Speaker
Wow. It's not far off. It is... Yeah. No, wait, wait, wait, wait. No, that's not Arena. ah wait. No, no, no, no. It's the Ponfar episode. Yeah, it's the Ponfar. Is that Arena?
00:39:14
Speaker
No, no. What? The seven-year itch. No, that was a, I think it's a muck time. A muck time, you're right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not bad. Yeah, you know what?
00:39:25
Speaker
Edit that out, man. I don't want to hear the letters. Oh my gosh. It's definitely like a muck time battle scene. and then And then this incredible old tune.
00:39:41
Speaker
Ahold music the SES Goliath.
00:39:47
Speaker
Oh, so good. I mean, lot this feels like it could be at home in a game like No One Lives Forever. Like it has little bit of that like lounge music vibe to it.
00:40:01
Speaker
That's so good. There's a real peppiness to all of the music, whether or not it's doing like kind of straight music parody like the WD-40 or the opening tune, if it's doing something a little more original.
00:40:19
Speaker
Like everything has a nice peppiness to it. Uh, which, yeah, I didn't mean to start us off with the the music. It's just that, you know, I played that incredible death tune and I felt like we had to run through all the audio clips I collected. No, no, it's very good because i do think it establishes the mood for Space Quest V, which is immediately different than the games that preceded it in some pretty important ways. I'm guessing...
00:40:51
Speaker
This is all old news for our listeners, but Space Quest V, the next mutation, 1993. What sets this apart from the previous four Space Quest games is this one is developed in Eugene, Oregon by Dynamics. I went school of Eugene, Oregon.
00:41:10
Speaker
Oh, how's he doing? Oh, he's he's good. He's good. Great to hear. His daughter just graduated. Eugenia? Yeah, Eugenia. Wow. Good for her. Yeah.
00:41:20
Speaker
Chemical engineering. Hmm. Yeah. Hmm. Very cool. It's like those sludge bandits. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, anyway, please, please. But no, I mean, notable in the sense that we see ah Mark Crow fly the coop. He leaves Sierra's offices in Oakhurst to begin working with Dynamics. He works on this alongside his assistant director, David Sell. I think they are the main creative forces behind it.
00:41:51
Speaker
um Not only is it developed in more of a dynamic style, so you see interface elements. Yeah, she's seen the dynamic spot everywhere. It's going to remind you a little bit more of Willie Beamish, of Rise of the Dragon, of Heart of China.
00:42:07
Speaker
In fact, I think at one point I seem to recall ah either Scott or Scott Murphy or Josh Mandel referring to this as Roger Beamish. at a time. ah But all these things, you know, are different in terms of how this game was put together, but also it's going to strike quite a different tone than the space quests that that preceded it. And one that I think I can speak for Ben here when I say that that we both Really enjoy. I like this departure for the series as much as I love the preceding games. Space Quest V is something special for me. And I hope we can kind of figure out why that is as we talk about it tonight. What's the plot of Space Quest
00:42:51
Speaker
Oh, man, what's the Plow Space Quest about? Roger Wilco has enrolled at StarCon Academy to to study to finally be an officer on board a Star Confederacy cruiser.
00:43:04
Speaker
ah Due to a mishap in his StarCon aptitude test, he is mistakenly awarded a much higher score and given command of his own ship. But this ship, the SCS Eureka, is a garbage scowl. So he's sent off into the galaxy to clean up waste.
00:43:24
Speaker
And along the way, he stumbles across a ah conspiracy involving one Captain Rames Quirk, who is who's in the midst. Rames Quirk.
00:43:38
Speaker
they queen even wouldn't even come up Couldn't even come up with something. It's just like it's like James, except we put an R in front of it. Yeah, I mean, i assume that's how it's pronounced, right? That's not like an action.
00:43:49
Speaker
It's got to be Ramsey's. Yeah, I mean, they could have workshopped that one a little more. They just didn't bother. Yeah. but Roger stumbles across a conspiracy involving a plan to pollute the galaxy. I mean, it's the early 1990s. We were worried about that sort of stuff. And along the way, he meets for the first time his his future wife, Beatrice Wankmaster. Again, another name that maybe have been workshopped a little more. and he saves her life. They fall in love. It's yeah, that's, ah that's basically space quest five. And in that show, I, I'm looking because it is interesting because the, the art does have a very distinct kind of dynamics look to it.
00:44:33
Speaker
um And so I'm, I'm on Moby games right now. And the, ah like the, the lead, production or the rather the the art director for it ah was our director of ah Willie Beamish.
00:44:54
Speaker
And you can see some of the same kinds of comic book and animation influences in this game that you saw in Willie Beamish, I think. Oh, for sure.
00:45:06
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Like, there is absolutely, ah like, it has it has a a real comic book look to it. Like, and I'm sure, Mark, like, I don't know the extent. I mean, do you? i don't know the extent that Mark Crow had with the art, like, having been the artist for for the games.
00:45:29
Speaker
Mm-hmm. uh like i'm i'm sure that was something that was important to him but did he do much of it or was he more interested like was he more involved in the production direction stuff you know i'm not honestly sure on that that's something that i've uh i've never quite nailed down i feel like the space quest community knows a little less about the development of space quest 5 than some of the other games they hate eugene can't stand that guy they yeah they all refuse they'll they're like we'll go to okers no problem but I think Mark Crow has always been, um you know, a little bit shyer talking with the community. Uh, so in a lot of ways it's his story to tell. And i don't know if he's told it in nearly as much detail as we've heard about some of these other games through the years. Hmm.
00:46:15
Speaker
Yeah. So, i you know, the, you know, the, as, as mentioned a big knock, knock,
00:46:28
Speaker
on on this game is it's like, you know, so so Space Quest up to this point was more of ah just a big mix of references and stuff like that.
00:46:43
Speaker
And generally it avoided Star Trek and would you say like it had references, but it wasn't like heavy on Star Wars either. Like, you know, obviously you see like a TIE fighter Yeah. And I mean, the plot of space quest one, I think is maybe, or are the beat story beats of it, at least are a little bit inspired by, I guess so. Yeah. so You're right. You're right. But I mean, again, it as much as it likes to make pop culture references,
00:47:15
Speaker
the space quest series up to this point has never really felt like a straight up parody oh and, and not reference heavy in a way that is, it's, you know, the driving force of the humor. I feel like the sarcasm, the deaths, things like that yeah were the, were the secret sauce for space quest. And then, you know, the, the references to other sci-fi and little moments of parody,
00:47:39
Speaker
were more of the seasoning on that. And this game definitely leans way more into we are doing Star Trek now. We've largely ignored Star Trek. And now we're going all in on just a straight up parody of it.
00:47:53
Speaker
Well, i mean, you know, I think it's it's what's interesting is that like, you know, so this is this is half of like the, you know, the the creative vision on it.
00:48:05
Speaker
And, you know, and this is the kind of thing that you see with any kind of creative endeavor um that, you know, it's going to but like, perhaps it's it's corporate and like, you know, we'll change hands. Like, so, you know, your favorite TV show that ran 10 seasons had like three different showrunners and you could tell the difference.
00:48:28
Speaker
And this has that feeling. This has the the feeling of like, Oh, there's there's a there's different, there's there's a ah different ah vision, even if it's one of the same people.
00:48:44
Speaker
ah Like, you know, I don't know if like David Sell, like how much he had involved or or anything else. But I mean, it has a very, it feels distinctly,
00:48:56
Speaker
different from all like the other five space quests. Yeah, it's not it's not quite a reboot, but it is definitely a we are establishing a new status quo in a very big way, um which I find kind of fascinating. It really is. ah Yeah. I don't know how much of this was.
00:49:16
Speaker
We've got a different creative team behind it and they have a different vision for this. If it was an intentional pivot to try to reimagine what the series could be from a,
00:49:28
Speaker
you know, a sales or marketing standpoint. I'm not quite sure where this, game and maybe a little bit both. Maybe the thought was, I mean, as i understand it, Space Quest was never Sierra's best-selling series. um In fact, I think that it trailed behind not just King's Quest, but Police Quest and Leisure Suit Larry. Well, certainly, I mean, every, like, Leisure Suit Larry was enormous. Yeah. That's because they're all so creatively successful.
Space Quest V's Game Design & Character Development
00:49:55
Speaker
But... You know, I, because I don't, I don't know if it would be a sales consideration. it I think, you know Perhaps the cynical read, if you are if you are someone that is less inclined to like this game, of which there are many folks that don't.
00:50:11
Speaker
Lots of wrong people out there. I think like your your read of it could be, well, you know, what it is is that ah people saw Space Quest, comedy, a space adventure, Star Trek.
00:50:27
Speaker
Yeah. Like, that it it was like... ah less and I, you know, obviously I have no insight here. Like it's, it's less of a ah like you know even a commercial consideration and more of it's just like i don't know like it's a there's a space guy and it's a comedy well you know star trek and it's like 1993 so you can't yeah i mean tng is ah yeah just booming at this point and also the um when did uh uh the 30th uh come out or 25th oh yeah would that have been like 92 what year was that
00:51:11
Speaker
That should be easy figure out. 25th anniversary is ah is... Let's see here. The CD version is 92. Yeah. yeah We should do an episode about that sometime.
00:51:25
Speaker
Yeah. and Maybe people will listen to that one. um Now... i But, you know, yeah. I mean, Trek is in the air. But is... Trek is in the air. It is definitely a... ah Like...
00:51:41
Speaker
a departure and the game like explicitly starts out with like first off it's called the next mutation mm-hmm Star Trek.
00:51:53
Speaker
and Then it starts with a, like a tune. That's just a straight, like, I don't even know if I'd call it a parody, like of the TOS. it's It's an interpolation maybe of, of the TOS theme. Yeah. It's like, you just like transposed it into a slightly different key. And, uh, yeah. And then it begins with Roger giving a captain's log,
00:52:21
Speaker
i Like, but even before that, he's done the Picard maneuver of like straightening out the tunic on his uniform there on the title screen. Like, I mean, it is, uh, yeah, it is definitely like right from the top. You know that this one, you know, the angle this one's taking.
00:52:38
Speaker
And I mean, and maybe it was just like, it's like, you know, maybe the, the, the more generous is, is just like, you know what? I could do a good Star Trek parody. Yeah. Like, you know, like was, you know, either Mark Crowe or whoever was just like, you know what?
00:52:54
Speaker
I've got Star Trek jokes in me and I could do it. And, and here's the, my defense of, ah of this and, and, you know, why I like this, ah you know, first off, obviously I love Star Trek. So it helps a little bit, but.
00:53:13
Speaker
You know, i it taking the form of a, like, parodying Star Trek gives it a narrative backbone and, ah like, a story in a way that, speak like, and a cast in a way that Space Quest hasn't had up to this point.
00:53:31
Speaker
Yes. I mean, really beyond... a handful of bad guys along the way and just like the random people that Roger encounters as he goes through his adventures. There's really been very little in the way of a supporting cast in the space quest series up to this point. I mean, other than again, you know, your, your sludge Vohals and a few characters like that. I mean, what do you, what do you have? Who, who are Roger's friends prior to space quest five, the robot from space quest one who we never see again.
00:54:05
Speaker
ah Does he talk to anyone other than his boss at the beginning of Space Quest 2 for like literally the whole game? Well, they speak to another person. Yeah.
00:54:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, in Space Quest 3, you know, he talks the monolith burger guy, you know, I guess the two guys from Andromeda are his are is supporting cast at that point. yeah Yeah, I mean, Roger has never really had a supporting cast around him, which makes it very difficult to offer any kind of meaningful character development. Not that...
00:54:45
Speaker
adventure game characters need a ton of development but i think it really benefits roger in this game that he finally gets some by being able to bounce off of you know a guy who's a lot like scotty the uh and the the thing and it refigures roger's character a little bit because as we've discussed in space quest 4 his like character in that is ah like he's a he's dopey in both, but he's more earnest in this one. And like this, this is a different, I mean, not to say that there was very much of a Roger Wilco character at all.
00:55:34
Speaker
But in four and before, but especially in four, like just kind of an an idiot. Like he's just kind of a... Himbo vibes. Very, very definitely yeah dim.
00:55:46
Speaker
Yeah. And... And uncurious. Yeah. in In this, he's like a bit of a dope, but he's also very sunny and gung-ho and he wants to do the right thing.
00:55:59
Speaker
Like they they they lawful good him. Yes. In a way that I think really works. he's He's lawful good, but none of his stat points are in intelligence. No, no. Like, he has some, like, accidental points in charisma.
00:56:18
Speaker
um But, like, yeah, not very much in intelligence. I mean, it's also... So, game... so this game He has golden retriever energy in this game.
00:56:35
Speaker
It does something great, which is that one of my favorite things when I played Space Quest 3 is that they ah you you captain in the aluminum mallard.
00:56:46
Speaker
You're the captain of a ship. And even though that really doesn't amount to too too much... it amounted to a lot when I played it. Like it really felt like something getting to scan ah across the screen and look at all the planets of which there weren't many, but doing that little scan and that, that tune that played when you're doing it.
00:57:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It, it, it really felt like something. it it really felt like something And You know, like you have the time machine in four, but that doesn't it doesn't feel the same way. It's not the same. the i mean, way there's a reason every Space Quest fan project slaps Roger straight back into the aluminum mallard and puts him right back at that status quo. i mean, there was something magical about that. Again, it's that way that old adventure games that were in fact
00:57:38
Speaker
quite limited in scope and oftentimes very linear. When they find those ways to make the world feel bigger and more open than maybe it really is just how that makes an impression on players. It it really did feel like I could go anywhere.
00:57:54
Speaker
in the aluminum mallard and by anywhere i mean like one of the three to four predetermined destinations it's big for me and honestly space quest 4 at the time pod same thing but this game reintroduces that again in a fun way now you're captaining a proper ship with a crew you're laying in courses you're choosing your warp factor you're doing the whole thing Yeah, like you you hail, you have like a big menu of options, most of which are used like once or twice. Yes.
00:58:21
Speaker
um And or or like it's like some of them are only used once or twice and some of them are used every time. You know, it's one those. And like, but that little, it it still makes it feel perfect.
00:58:35
Speaker
very real uh it makes it feel uh the you know you you said something that kind of sparked something in my my head where it's like you know you're right they they throw roger back in the aluminum mallard they do not throw him in the scs uh eureka no and again part of it is ah Well, and you don't have the Eureka at the end.
00:59:04
Speaker
But i it is ah again, a pretty obvious joke in that it's called the Eureka and it looks like ah like a little handheld, you know, dust buster vacuum cleaner.
00:59:20
Speaker
But you want to know what? Is this the game that also does the most and is the most on theme with him as a janitor? ah That's a great question. I mean, and I do love this idea. Like, let me just be straightforward. The idea of his janitorial work now being sort of taken out to a macroscopic scale of now, instead of just like sweeping up messes, he is flying around a ship and collecting garbage from space.
00:59:50
Speaker
I love that as ah re-imagining that he's still a space janitor, just on a grander scale now. Uh, Well, and then, and the bad guys are people that are illegally dumping toxic waste, which is a a very nineties plot.
01:00:07
Speaker
Yes. all Captain planet. But, but B ah it again, it ties into his identity as a janitor.
01:00:19
Speaker
It's him the perfect person to save the galaxy in this situation, as opposed to being the accidental hero who is just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
01:00:31
Speaker
It almost feels like this is his first best destiny. the the The other games that he's a janitor is it's like, yeah, because that's what a loser ah has.
01:00:44
Speaker
Right. I mean, that's still the joke in in here. But the fact is, is that all of his janitor know-how, like, is it's about, you know, handling this ah big of space mess.
01:01:01
Speaker
Yes. Now, i you know, one of the the the other things I really love about this game um and that we've mentioned is that it has a crew.
01:01:16
Speaker
you have ah You start out with Flo, Drool, and Cliffy, who all go through, and then you add two more. Over the course of the game, you get a pet.
01:01:29
Speaker
Oh, Spike. And then you have, you know, always one of the great things in any game enemies to friends where an evil robot that is trying to kill you becomes your science officer.
01:01:44
Speaker
That's very satisfying. And then also be like, and then also ah be joins. Yeah, that's right. you know People never talk about this, but I can only assume WD 40 later would go on to inspire seven of nine.
01:02:00
Speaker
yeah Yeah, you're right. Absolutely right. But, I mean, I think what what them having... So, there's a very basic character arc in this game.
01:02:18
Speaker
it is It's Flo is your communications officer. Drool is your helmsman. Cliffy is the engineer.
01:02:30
Speaker
ah And at the start of the the game, Flo and Drool especially, Cliffy a little bit, though, he seems, he's he's a guy that just kind of gets along with people, kind of. Yeah. um They all are like, oh, like, you're just some loser asshole. We don't like you.
01:02:48
Speaker
Like, we're going to get a new boss. Like... Yeah, you won't last a day. you're going to be replaced. at All of our bosses have been replaced. Whatever. ah And then over the course of the game, and again, this is very simple storytelling.
01:03:03
Speaker
Over the course of the game, they trust you. And by the end of the game, they like you. Yeah. And that's immensely satisfying. Nobody's ever liked Roger Wilco up to this point in the series. Like there's never been anyone who expressed any real admiration or respect for him.
01:03:23
Speaker
um Even when he's given the golden mop at the end of the first game, it's still a joke that he's just a janitor. That's why you received a mop and not a proper you know reward for your, for your efforts there.
01:03:36
Speaker
And, Yeah, having these characters slowly warm up to you over the course of the game is very satisfying because ultimately these are all... interesting enough characters we get enough conversations with them and enough sense of who they are that you kind of want them to like you you know it's like Flo, Drool, and Cliffy are all three you know really fun characters and again they're pastiches of various Star Trek tropes and you know that's that's fine in this case but yeah seeing them just
01:04:07
Speaker
kind of eventually come to respect Roger and, and go from being sort of his unwilling crew to, to happy to help him out. You you get the great bonding moment at the space bar yeah where Cliffy gets into a fight. And it's, again, this is like, you know, so storytelling, screenwriting, one-on-one sort stuff, but there's a reason why this formula exists because it works pretty well.
01:04:34
Speaker
Yeah. You know, And again, it's also, it's like Cliffy gets into the fight. That's a reference. That's another Star Trek reference. Yeah. That's a reference to, I think, yeah, it's Trouble Tribbles. Trouble Tribbles. Yeah. um And i it's it's impressive to me that it does these just straightforward, outright, like,
01:04:59
Speaker
you know, pull like, you know, parody things, but it manages to have a coherent plot at the same time. And what, like, i think, The heart of is all all of the Space Quest games, except maybe six, maybe, is that they kind of, like each Space Quest kind of puts you into kind of ah a series of limited screen ah lethal situations, which Space Quest V does as well.
01:05:34
Speaker
um ah And the ah the, like, that the the game kind of resets you back on the ship after each of those makes it feel a little episodic.
01:05:52
Speaker
And it also gives you, ah like, kind of a home base in a way that I don't know if a lot of other adventure games have had up to that point. um Like there's certainly other adventure games that ah like, you know, spent more time in one place or a bow, you know, but um that like, it felt like, you know, you would have two different, and this, this kind of still like, it's like you have two kinds of different ah adventure games where it's like one where it's a journey and your reward is more screens.
01:06:33
Speaker
And another one is it's like a maniac mansion or a Laura bow. And it's, you know, kind of exploring this one kind of stationary space. And, and this kind of has a little bit of both, right?
01:06:47
Speaker
You keep going back to the ship. Yes. There's new stuff that happens on the ship and you get to do each thing on the ship. You get to eventually use the, the, um, the EVA suit and go outside.
01:06:59
Speaker
you get to like, you know, uh, use the self-destruct. you get to, uh, use, uh, everything in the science lab. Yeah. it's basically mass effect.
01:07:11
Speaker
Yeah. It's essentially mass effect. It's, uh, the, the ah Normandy is based on the Eureka. But I mean, like, I mean, but that is like, you're you're joking. And obviously it's not based on the your Eureka, but that's also, it's like people loved that about the Normandy.
01:07:28
Speaker
yeah Yeah, your downtime between your missions ah to to reacquaint yourself with your crew, to check in on you know plots that have been simmering in the background to see if your cryogenically frozen girlfriend is still alive. You know all the details that you do when you're not out doing cool like fights with robots or, you know, wrestling on the ground with pucoids or what have you.
01:07:54
Speaker
the The thing, yeah, like it I really, that it has more of this format and then kind of building up to this final confrontation with Reims' quirk.
01:08:11
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So lazy. What is the laziness there? what is is the laziness there preferable to the active work that went into naming Beatrice Wankmeister like someone chose I mean I'd rather it be I'd rather she be Rhames quirk than Beatrice Wankmeister I mean yeah like Beatrice girl character would be probably preferable right I mean um but yeah you know
01:08:48
Speaker
uh uh yeah like it that it has this uh format and uh this story that it builds to over these little episodic chunks i think uh and then you have a a cast that's with you this whole time and kind of chatting with you as you said it i don't know it it it makes it a very strong and solid adventure game for me all that stuff Yeah, for a genre that this point in its history oftentimes didn't put a lot of thought into character development. It makes Space Quest V stand out. It's not the first game that emphasized it, but certainly first Space Quest game that emphasized it. And, you know, this wasn't something that Sierra tended to think a lot about in the King's Quest games or in Police Quest or, you know, I mean, Larry, I think it's a little bit more development because he is constantly interacting with people. in a way that those other protagonists aren't. But yeah, I think this this works for you. you know
01:09:53
Speaker
I think we've we've talked about this before probably off the podcast, but you know when I played this back in 1993, first of all, I want to say, Ben, you're going to accuse me of of making this up.
01:10:08
Speaker
Yes, you're making this up. You see, I knew this. I knew it. After space quest four, I swear I wrote a fan fiction in which Roger became the captain of the garbage scale.
01:10:22
Speaker
And then this game came to fruition, which probably means I read about it somewhere, forgot about it and, you know, independently created the story, but that's beside the point. After I played space quest five and 93,
01:10:34
Speaker
For me, it was just like, this is the new status quo of the series. Because Sierra games always get sequels and always will get sequels, I am guaranteed Space Quest 6. They're going to continue. This is just how it's going to be. We're just going to keep getting these forever.
01:10:52
Speaker
That's right. And we're gonna keep getting these forever. And the next one's going to pick up. Roger's still a captain. Drool and Flo and Cliffy andpiy and Spike and WD-40 are all going to be there with him.
01:11:07
Speaker
It never occurred to me that this would all be a race. In fact, I think you see that a lot when you look at my website, Roger Wilco's Virtual Broom Closet, which when I was doing all the writing for that website and launching it back in 1995,
01:11:24
Speaker
I hadn't finished Space Quest 6 yet. Space Quest 5 was still the game that was fresh in my mind. So a lot of the content and a lot of the graphics and the design and everything are very much reflective of the idea that Space Quest 5 is the current iteration what Space Quest is. like Yeah, I guess for me, that became Space Quest. Yeah, when I think about your website, that is what it looks like. It has more of a Space Quest 5 look to it.
01:11:51
Speaker
Yeah. Because it's also the, the, like, you know, doing a Star Trek thing. That means like, there's a little more thought into what the uniforms mean.
01:12:01
Speaker
Yes. You know, and stuff like that. Like it, it, it gives a lot of form to something that was just kind of like, i don't know, then Rogers in a mall. Yeah. Which is sort of how the preview, I mean, it just, yeah. Rogers is sort of drift from point A to point B. I mean,
01:12:18
Speaker
In Space Quest III, Roger can not even be aware of the plot as he plays the game start to finish. He can just kind of, you know, end up at the end just through sheer luck if he doesn't read that coded message from Monolith Burger. I mean, this one definitely gives a little bit more direction in terms of
Space Quest V Critiques & Highlights
01:12:41
Speaker
what's going on. It gives us, yeah, I think imposing the Star Trek structure and logic on it helps immensely in uh in in that regard it really yeah it the whole universe doesn't feel as slapped together i mean we've never heard of star con before but we don't need to know anything about star con as soon as we hear there's something called star con we know what star fleet is you we know what the federation is you yeah yeah you get it it's fine you you get it now ben ben do you get it i don't get it uh now
01:13:14
Speaker
i Jess, you were saying before we recorded, you were looking at some of the contemporary reviews of Space Quest V. Yes. How was it used to you?
01:13:25
Speaker
I mean, kind of mediocre. and It's very lukewarm. You know, I think probably the Space Quest game that is best reviewed. Now, I mean, Space Quest I gets nearly universal praise, but also it was released at a time when...
01:13:44
Speaker
most video game magazines and computer game magazines just didn't write negative reviews of anything that was competently put together. You know, that was very much the enthusiast press back in those days. Probably at this point, Space Quest three had been their strongest reviewed. And I think the multimedia aspects of Space Quest V got it some you're pretty for pretty good notices. But i'm looking like at the review from the June 1993 review issue of video games and computer entertainment where they score it, um, around a seven out of 10.
01:14:17
Speaker
That's funny. Yes. Yeah. Uh, let's see. They have two reviewers here and their summary is Dave and Mike both love space quest fives humor, but felt it was simply too short. And he also didn't think it had any real durability. So they have four different reviewers.
01:14:32
Speaker
Uh, they, kind they're kind of lukewarm on it. Um, looking over a major issue. i mean not a major issue but it it it like it is it is too short it is too short well i mean but also all space quests sorry yeah uh let's see pc review um gives it a seven uh their big uh takeaway um imaginatively programmed and very entertaining. If we're from you, few minor control faults and a general lack of innovation, it could have been a great one.
01:15:08
Speaker
think they feel like it's just more of the same from, uh, from Sierra, uh, not one of their standouts, uh, PC zone.
01:15:20
Speaker
Cause a 72 out of 100 with the C average C minus average here with the log line better than the usual twee nonsense from Sierra.
01:15:31
Speaker
ah The regular twee nonsense. What the fuck does that mean? i don't know. I'm seeing there also the first review I've noticed that calls out Beatrice Wankmaster's last name specifically. um Yeah.
01:15:48
Speaker
I like this summary. Space Quest V is good with a capital OK. Their worst ways of spending 40 quid.
01:15:58
Speaker
oh that's it no it's basically a the yeah i mean so it's not people aren't raving about nobody's really that upset about it but nobody seems to love it particularly either it's it's funny i i would say yeah the like all other space quest games it's other than six which is way too long um it is way too short um And ah it also, it commits a major design sin, which is like, ding you know, yeah ding, dinging ding, ding, ding. You know that they knew it was too short because they stuck lengthy multi-level maze right at the end.
01:16:45
Speaker
Yeah, and that's that's ah that's developer language for ah they homeless they told us this needed a couple more hours.
01:16:56
Speaker
Yeah, and it's a kind of awful maze. It's one that's hard to map. it It goes into a first person perspective or not that first person, but it goes into a weird crawling through Jeffrey's tubes kind of perspective that, yeah, it's, it's not good. And it's one of those that we've talked about before where it's placement in the game could not be worse. Like time is ticking down. It's all come down to this. You have to save the galaxy. Now it's all ramped up to this. The music is getting more and more intense.
01:17:31
Speaker
Let's slam on the brakes and crawl around in a maze for 30 minutes. One that will be frustrating and no fun for you. Yeah, no, no. It's like.
01:17:46
Speaker
If you put this exact maze midway through the game. Not a huge problem. I mean, it would suck no matter where it was. would suck no matter where it is, but it's terrible at the end.
01:17:58
Speaker
Yeah, terrible. And also they'd never done that to this point, right? Like there's no real mate. Like there's like, there are large and kind of can like kind of mazey, you know, like both of Vohall's like end game fortresses.
01:18:16
Speaker
Yeah. And then like a one screen thing, like the root monster, but that's really more of a navigation puzzle than it is. That's just kind of a old Sierra type thing. That's kind of like a stair quest.
01:18:29
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's just, can you, are you good with your cursor keys? Yeah, you know, this this is really the first time we see of these thrown into Space Quest in ah in a big way. And yeah, I mean, it's it's really, i think, one of the...
01:18:46
Speaker
the big missteps of, of the game. What, what if I, I think a relatively few missteps. I think otherwise, you know, the the design's pretty tight. I think that a puzzle wise, it's good. I feel like, you the sequence where you fight,
01:19:02
Speaker
WD-40 on kiss your ass goodbye. I think it's one of the better examples of that type of adventure game. Yes. Cause we see that often like the, the chase scene where it's like move to this location and execute this move and then run to the next location sort of thing.
01:19:22
Speaker
And this one works better than a lot of them do. And it feels very tense. I mean, we've talked before about how hard it is to get that sense of like, you know action movie pacing in a point and click adventure game.
01:19:35
Speaker
And I think this is a place where Sierra actually does the work dynamics. It's a real feeling of victory when you take down WD-40.
01:19:46
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. It feels earned. It's because it's, it's tough. And so, and you know, when I was a kid, i didn't like that sequence because i didn't,
01:19:59
Speaker
Because the, like, you know, ah talking so much about Space Quest when we did all those episodes last year and thinking about it, I probably said this then, that it's like death is a huge part of Space Quest as it is of life.
01:20:15
Speaker
And, um, uh, but like, you know, the the deaths, like that's, that's part of the joy of the game. The deaths are really funny, but like, as a kid, I was just really frustrated.
01:20:28
Speaker
um And, um, and, and now I'll bring up what we alluded to before, which is this game scared the shit out me. You don't have to talk about this. No, no, no, I must.
01:20:43
Speaker
This game scared the shit out of me when I was a kid. There's a sequence. So first I'm already starting to feel a bit on edge.
01:20:54
Speaker
in the Clorox 2 sequence. um Because like this music's kind of spooky. Then you get ambushed by a guy and it it plays this tune.
01:21:10
Speaker
get ambushed by a guy who's spitting at you. Which is gross. Yeah. And that's kind of spooky. But like that whole area had me like really kind of on edge.
01:21:25
Speaker
And when you're done with that sequence and you go back to the Eureka, You get a distress call from the Goliath.
01:21:36
Speaker
Rain's quirks. That's, you know what? The more I say it, the more I love it. His ship. And you see his face melting and he's become, like, started to succumb to the pucoids and become a mutant.
01:21:54
Speaker
like there's like And then it pans and you see like this like the bridge of the Goliath and everybody on it is like their faces melting and they become these monsters. And that scared the shit out of me and gave me terrible nightmares and I deleted the game right away.
01:22:08
Speaker
Did not finish it as a kid. D-N-F. Duke Nukem Forever.
01:22:21
Speaker
You know, that's the only thing I ever think of when I see the initials DNF. What a dumb way to have colonized three letters for such a terrible, terrible game. Did you ever play that? Did you ever play Duke Forever? streamed that. I've streamed Duke Nukem Forever um when Gearbox finally crapped it out. um Yeah. ah so So you didn't like it?
01:22:47
Speaker
Not a fan, no. I mean, did you play Duke of 3D? Yeah, you know, I went to a little phase. um I was way more of a Quake guy, but in that sort of pre-Quake interlude, I spent a good I mean, I think I've beaten...
01:23:04
Speaker
back in the day, the commercial version of Duke Nukem 3D. How about you? Were you a Duke nukesman? I was not allowed to play shooters. So yeah I, I, thatt all of those games are kind of like, I've played the first couple levels of doom a bunch of times. That's it.
01:23:23
Speaker
And I own Doom, like the Doom and Doom 2 thing that came out. So, you know, maybe maybe I should, you know, play them. Doom's a pretty good video game, Ben. Is it?
01:23:35
Speaker
Yeah. Ever told you my mom got really obsessed with Wolfenstein and Doom? I think so. ah Yeah, she was an avid player of both. So she blew out her wrists.
01:23:49
Speaker
That's a bummer. Yeah, but now I'm better at them than she is. So, you know, it all worked out. But yeah, no, I did not get into shooters until I went to college.
01:24:02
Speaker
So no more parents to tell me no. Right. That's right. got to yeah Yeah, you got to college. You're like, oh, man, give me your rise of the triad. No, it was ah right when I started college. Counter-Strike Source had just come out. So that was what that was what I was playing. I'm still, and I've never been good at it.
01:24:22
Speaker
Never been good at Counter-Strike Source. And that's the only one I ever played. haven't played any of the other versions. ah And I'm still writing high on like one. I'm sure you have this feeling too.
01:24:34
Speaker
There's one game I remember. of
Space Quest V's Unique Charm & Humor
01:24:38
Speaker
counter-strike source that i played where i somehow managed to get behind everybody and kill them all almost always i was the most useless person on the team yeah that was my one time like have an overwatch match 2004 yeah like not I have the one Overwatch match that I finally accomplished my my dream of booping everyone off the map all in one shot. And yeah, I mean, I still remember how that felt that day. Yeah, that's the that that one game of Counter-Strike over 20 years ago.
01:25:17
Speaker
um still holding on to that high. I've never played game. a shooter uh that well ever again uh that's video games for you man that's what makes this such a beautiful hobby um is how it breaks your brain sometimes for decades now is there anything that that we didn't so like as i said the the the big flaws with the game i would say Because I like all the the Star Trek stuff. For some reason, like the straightforward parody of it works for me. Like, and even when it's a little more obvious with the jokes, that doesn't really bother me.
01:25:53
Speaker
It does have one thing that makes me laugh. which is very stupid and bad. Yes. Which is ah at the start of the game when Roger gets onto the Eureka and he trips on the chair and it just plays like a dough sound effect.
01:26:09
Speaker
Yes. That is some of the laziest fucking joke writing that's ever existed. Plain. Yes. a Homer Simpson doe when you're is it dude is it a legit Homer Simpson doe too I or have they attempted to rerecord their own doe or did they just go like to someone's site Homer Simpson doe but I think it is too it's very close I think it's like I think it's just straight up like Homer doe dot W A V. Yeah. That's what it feels like. Um, maybe, maybe they, maybe they made a legally distinct doe, but like it,
01:26:48
Speaker
It sounds like, I mean, whether or not it's actually a clip from The Simpsons, it is unmistakably evoking it. Like, it is not, like, it's it's not some sort of silly trip.
01:27:03
Speaker
It is, look, he's making the sound effect that a beloved television oaf Homer J. Simpson makes when, you you know. and And I think about that, like when I was revisiting the game today and it came up to the dough, I was just like, man, that like, that's so lazy. It just makes me laugh with how fucking brazen it is.
01:27:27
Speaker
Like, yeah and mean yeah. And that's the sort of thing that if I wasn't followed by, it was, and it was the chair joke, right? Like he sits down and there's like a farting sound effect. Yeah. It's like, it's bad, dude. Like, I mean, i don't know what,
01:27:43
Speaker
I don't know what to to tell you. The thing is, is that in any other circumstance, those things would be massive negatives for me. But because I'm so sweet on this game, i like, i'm I'm like, isn't that cute? Like this is the, like the HR, ah like meme.
01:28:02
Speaker
Yes. yesish Yes. Any other game. Yeah. Totally different. Yeah. Any other game. i would be like, Jesus fucking Christ. That's lazy, lazy, lazy. Well,
01:28:13
Speaker
I don't hold the weird Sprint telephone product placement. Oh, that's hilarious. either Like, yeah, it almost works as a joke. The idea that your comm system pulls up a Sprint logo and there was a whole Sprint ad campaign where you could like get two free Sierra games if you switch to Sprint or or something like that that went with this. I mean, there was a whole cross promotional thing.
01:28:36
Speaker
But again, in any other game, be like, boy, that is really tacky. because there's really not much product placement to speak of in Sierra games. And this one really stands out as a weird example of it.
01:28:49
Speaker
It really is. Yeah. I mean, it it's ah it's incorporated as organically as it could be, but that doesn't mean it's great. What's funny about it is that Sprint doesn't exist anymore. So that is that's really funny. Yeah. Well, neither does Space Quest. So there you have it. Something else we didn't talk about that do love about this game. um I love the Galactic Inquirer insert that comes with the game. manual. Yes. What a wonderful manual. It's done in the style of a tabloid newspaper with, yeah I guess the big story in it is we have this shocking reveal. There's a...
01:29:33
Speaker
story that reveals Mark Crow has secretly been a human all along. He wasn't really an Andromedan. There's a photo of him like putting on the wig and snout and being caught and trying to like chase the the photographer away.
01:29:49
Speaker
Along with that, we have lots of great ads. there's ah There's a really funny, like, you can be a game designer, too, for fun and profit ad that's all about basically it shows a programmer chained to his desk with a desperate look on his face.
01:30:04
Speaker
And then a bunch of jokes about video game crunch before a lot of people were talking about video game crunch. It has Ger Draxen of stellar seven fame doing, uh, doing your horoscope. That's also part of the copy protection along the way.
01:30:21
Speaker
ah on the back, uh, cover, they have an amazing ad for the space quest five hemp book that's done in the style of the Dianetics ads that used to run back in the 1980s and nineties, uh, which I don't think I recognized it as such then, but now look at It's like, Oh yeah, it's, unleash your hidden potential with a volcano going off in the background in front of a giant space quest five hit book it's like it's 1000 a uh scientology parody thrown in there um and this was before sierra had even worked with leo remini
01:31:00
Speaker
can we leave that in okay can we leave that in why why would i take it out I don't want Scientology to hunt us down. Oh, so you want me to take it out? No, I'm fine with it. Leave it.
01:31:11
Speaker
leave Take this part out. ah No, what if I cut out the other thing and then and then left in us discussing whether we should leave it in or not?
01:31:21
Speaker
Even better. Yeah. Now, ah you know, according to... i Yeah, I mean, that that that manual was incredible. And according to the the credits, I've just been like kind of paging through the Moe games here.
01:31:40
Speaker
ah Josh Mandel has a ah credit in the game manual because of course he does. Very not shocking that it would bring him over from from the old Sierra team. I mean, this feels absolutely like his handiwork. There's also the great behind the scenes look at how computer games are made. Love that.
01:32:01
Speaker
that has one of my favorite bits ever like where they're about how they scan digitized live actors and it's just a shot of them literally like smushing the actor who's playing roger wilco's face onto a flatbed scanner yeah well then like the the them like kind of painting like screens like computer yeah screens and stuff like that yeah no the whole bit really plays well i mean again it has a little bit of a mad magazine quality to it and we both discussed our our love of mad magazine it's it's a wonderful manual I think it's one Sierra's very best yeah
01:32:42
Speaker
I read this thing obsessively.
Space Quest 5 vs. Space Quest 6: Character Growth
01:32:44
Speaker
Well, ah Jess, is there anything else ah that you'd like to to hit before we close the book on Space Quest V? Ben, are we both willing to go on record right here and now and say, this is the best Space Quest game?
01:32:58
Speaker
Well, you know what? So i'm looking at ah I'm looking at Moby Games right now. I'm looking at the review, the reviews page.
01:33:09
Speaker
you know Some people love it. Some people hate it. And then I see how do you hate this game? And then I and then I see one right here. Without a doubt, the best space quest.
01:33:20
Speaker
And the name on that Benjamin Vigen 2005. Wow. Oh, four stars. Ben. Look at you. four stars
01:33:34
Speaker
then look at you but I had, uh, talk about, talk about a shocker. Uh, this is, this is a live discovery.
01:33:48
Speaker
Did you not know that was there? ah That's amazing. No, this is probably contemporaneous with me, uh, posting on, uh, your forum.
01:34:01
Speaker
Oh, that's fabulous, Ben. That's what a, what a twist here at the end that no one was expecting. No, I mean, I famously, you know, as we talked about Space Quest 3, I go back and forth sometimes, you know, spacequest three Space Quest 3, Space Quest 5. I both, both of them I just adore. And I think they both have their strengths. But again, the fact that the story is so much stronger here that you have actual characters you get to know.
01:34:29
Speaker
Again, Roger actually growing as a character and becoming more than what he started as rather than less. I found that very satisfying because I loved Roger Wilco by this point. And, you know, I kind of wanted to see good things happen to him. It's not like,
01:34:44
Speaker
leisure suit larry where you want to see larry laugh or just keep getting you know absolutely humiliated over and over again i kind of like that it looked like roger was growing up um and it really was a bummer you know to have space quest 6 just throw that away i think space quest 5 is probably my favorite game in the series yeah no it's absolutely mine mine too i agree with as proven by mobi games 21 years ago oh my gosh ben That review can drink. So you're only six. I was only six years old when I read that review.
Audience Engagement & Podcast Teaser
01:35:19
Speaker
All right. Well, thank you for joining us for our discussion of Space Quest 4, the next mutation. You said Space Quest 4, Ben. Oh, I'm sorry.
01:35:30
Speaker
ah How foolish of me. Space Quest 5, the next mutation. Uh, you can ah send us an email at quest quest podcast at gmail.com. You can also please rate and review five stars, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Please, please.
01:35:49
Speaker
I need this fast reviews. A lot of times, like I'll just text Ben like late at night on a Monday night and just be like, do we have any more five star reviews? And Ben's like, let me go check.
01:36:01
Speaker
And he comes back a few minutes later. He's like, no, not today. But i please ah join us next week. Let me check my papers here. We just had a production meeting before this, so we discussed about what our our our upcoming slate, the next five or six weeks of shows. Producer Erica was sort of laying out what we have coming up.
01:36:25
Speaker
So let's see here. According to this, oh, this is curious. Must be a typo. Join us next week, I guess, for Space Quest 4.
01:36:52
Speaker
So, Jess, I've got a question for you. Have you seen online the ah crazy theories that the events of Space Quest 4 are what caused the VGA remake to replace EGA in the timeline?