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Collecting Games
1 Playsin 6 hours
Ben and Jess talk collecting games, why Jess quit playing Zork, and a very special apology from Ben
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
Jess Returns and Corrections Segment
00:00:36
Speaker
It's Quest Quest, the adventure game podcast. I'm Ben. I am Jess and I am back. Welcome back, Jess.
00:00:47
Speaker
It's great to be back, Ben. You know, I listened to last week's episode and ah stand by everything you said, as I think I made clear throughout the episode. But honestly, Grayson, I don't know about that guy.
00:01:01
Speaker
Well, you know, I'll get this out of the way right away. I got to get this out of the way right away. Because here's the thing. Last time we did this segment, the correction segment, I'm pretty sure. And and I want to be clear here.
00:01:15
Speaker
We do these podcasts and I don't remember anything, even though I listened to them, at least like we both listened to it again, you know, before it goes out. But ahm I'm pretty sure last time we did a correction, I said that we weren't doing any more corrections.
00:01:31
Speaker
Yes. Well, we haven't made any more mistakes until last week. Yeah, yeah ah but yeah. You say we, which you weren't there for. Yeah, that's yeah. but the but We as an LLC, Quest Quest LLC made a mistake last week.
00:01:45
Speaker
Yeah. i I agree, Ben. Well said. um Why do I sound like I'm in a bathroom? yeah yeah ah Yeah, you did. You sounded like you were in a bathroom last week. I agree, Ben. Well said.
00:02:02
Speaker
um But here, let me turn on this week's apology music. Correction music.
Grayson's Misunderstanding and Podcast Humor
00:02:12
Speaker
Now, so, as I said, you know, also part of saying we're not doing this segment again is I don't want to know what I've been wronged.
00:02:25
Speaker
But a lot of people let me know this one.
00:02:37
Speaker
So last week in our return to Zork episode, I mistakenly identified ah this man and uh uh i'll play let me mute the music for a moment uh identified this as an irish accent go away i haven't got anything for you i've only got one milk coal and she only eats carrots
00:03:08
Speaker
now
00:03:11
Speaker
So call that an Irish accent. Obviously it's a a Scottish accent, but i let me explain the situation. Because it's a little more complicated than you might think. So as as you may recall last week, it's just Grayson and I, and I want to make it very clear. Grayson was pointing a gun at me.
00:03:32
Speaker
As he's wanting to do. Yeah. And he was holding up a ah sign. he wrote He wrote down on him like a piece of paper. He said, if you do not identify, or if you sorry if you identify, let me my back up.
00:03:50
Speaker
I mean, I think the short closets. Yeah. But essentially, if you don't not identify. If I do not, not, if I do not, not.
00:04:06
Speaker
Listen, let me cut through the crap because as we all heard last week, Grayson speaks in riddles. Hard to understand what he says, but he was essentially saying that he would fire the gun.
00:04:22
Speaker
if I didn't incorrectly identify that accent as an Irish accent. Now, Ben, just to clarify, would Grayson be firing the gun at his own monitor?
00:04:34
Speaker
Yes. Hmm. Okay. Well, I was scared. Oh, yeah. mean, yeah. Someone's got a gun on You're going to be a little bit intimidated. Yeah. You're going to stop to think. I was scared, Jess.
00:04:46
Speaker
Yeah. But that's why I'm still apologizing. Because is otherwise, if if it wasn't... If it, if, if, uh, like, you know, if I was just outright defiant and it wasn't just because I was scared, even like, you know, like I was seeing the the great train robbery, that train is coming towards the screen. going
Headphone Discomfort and Family Health
00:05:11
Speaker
to run out of that movie theater. That's what I was doing. He was pointing a gun at the monitor.
00:05:16
Speaker
And I was like the people. You were like that dog from the cover of the National Lampoon magazine. That's right. Yeah, and I mean, that dog was scared too, just like you were. I don't think anyone can blame you, but I think a lot of people could probably blame Grayson. Yeah.
00:05:32
Speaker
Yeah. I think most people can and should blame Grayson. I agree, Ben. Well said. Yeah, I agree too. Well said, mate.
00:05:45
Speaker
No, this was this was bad. You know, i my rule of thumb is when I'm in this situation is usually how much does it sound like the Mike Myers dad character from So I Married an Axe Murderer?
00:05:59
Speaker
And if it's close to that, I go with Scottish. um That's my rule of thumb. The late, great Mike Myers. Yeah, you know, he was constantly yelling at his young son. Was it his son? Grandson? Son?
00:06:15
Speaker
yeah because it's like, because Mike Myers is also his son. Yeah, it's but he's an adult man. But he's an adult man, and then he has ah little boy who lives there. Head, pants, now! constantly harassing, yes giving this little boy a complex at the size of his head.
00:06:36
Speaker
in e As someone with large head, didn't appreciate that. I, too, have a large head. it's to It's to contain our large voices. Yeah. Jess, do you have the the problem as a large-headed person that, like, about, let's say about 60% of headphones eventually give you a attention headache?
00:06:57
Speaker
Headache? headach gave you a a attention Headache, headache. Yeah. What accent was that, Jess? Ooh, I'm going to say the Maldives? I agree, Ben. Well said.
00:07:09
Speaker
but I'm glad I gave you those clips. what What a great choice that was. Yeah, no, I like i have to find the perfect headset, and then i just do the reasonable thing, and I buy six of them so that you know I never have to ever worry about one not fitting me again. I just you know have like a little room in the house where I keep all my backup headsets.
00:07:30
Speaker
Yeah, you've you've one of those headset rooms. Yeah, yeah. i It's like a Brookstone. it's It's really terrible. It's really terrible.
00:07:42
Speaker
I got the, ah like, a pair of, like, the nicest, like, consumer Sony headphones.
00:07:54
Speaker
And, like, a... And they would give me tension headaches. And I was just like, I'm just going to deal with this because these were too expensive.
00:08:05
Speaker
i have a nice set of noise canceling headphones that like i ah you mostly listen to like music on when I'm on a flight or commute or something like that.
00:08:16
Speaker
And
Listener Emails and Artistic Journeys
00:08:17
Speaker
I love those, but somehow they are too warm. i suspect it's like the tight sill that's being created to achieve noise cancellation. But they fit nicely on my head, but my ears get that too dang hot. Well, here's the problem going back to these. So i just grinned and bared it with these expensive Sony headphones. And you want to know what?
00:08:43
Speaker
ah my large head ended up snapping one of the by hinges. Oh, wow. Which is apparently a known issue ah for that. Like, a lot of people have snapped, like,
00:08:56
Speaker
Those of us with large heads. And so I have like, and I don't know what to do with them because it's just like, it's like, it's two functioning, high quality headphone speakers, but one of them is just flopping.
00:09:10
Speaker
Yes. Like just sell it on eBay with a very short description and put as is. I mean, someone could fix it.
00:09:20
Speaker
It's just that I'm not that person. Yeah, you just put it against your head and then put duct tape around the the headphone and attach it to your face. Oh, I just have it forever.
00:09:33
Speaker
What would I do to charge it, though? That's the problem. You're just going to have to be patient and be close to the yeah charging unit. Just move your head closer to it. How are doing, Jess?
00:09:45
Speaker
I'm great. You know, i I've never been better. My whole family is is currently down with the flu, except for me. So, you know. So how long is that going to last?
00:09:59
Speaker
Not long. I would say, i mean, how long do you think we'll be recording tonight? I feel like the flu clock is ticking. It's coming Yeah, like you have... Because we have a peek behind the curtain.
00:10:12
Speaker
We have a, ah like, you know, fill our our backlog, ah like, record tomorrow that that we're doing.
00:10:24
Speaker
And now I'm thinking, like, oh, we might not do that. Oh, I've got this, Ben. I've decided
Game Sequels and Peaks
00:10:31
Speaker
I'm not going to get sick anymore. I've never enjoyed it.
00:10:35
Speaker
And I just don't think I'll do it anymore.
00:10:39
Speaker
yeah that's a good idea so people should try it but so where so you just came back from a family trip yes how long has has your uh has your wife and kid uh had the flu so uh my wife developed my wife do you remember borat i don't um it's a great film yeah no problems there yeah She got symptoms about five days ago.
00:11:08
Speaker
Daughter got them today. So no, you're, yeah there's a stalking horse. you're Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So when did you get back? Monday. So that would have three days ago.
00:11:22
Speaker
Okay, so she got it at the park, or maybe even on the flight. Yes, that sucks. Yeah, we were in a lot of very crowded personal. so I mean, like we went to a Savannah bananas baseball game with 43,000 other people.
00:11:39
Speaker
And then we immediately got on a plane known for its germs. And then we went to the most magical place on Earth Walt Disney World, ah which, you know, that's another like 40,000 people touching and licking every surface in the park all day long.
00:11:55
Speaker
Yeah. ah So yeah, I mean, we've and then back on a plane, we've been exposed to every vector of germ transmission. It's a miracle any of us are still alive. I I did... yeah let's... ah Yeah, I i i hope you your your wife and your daughter feel well soon, and I hope that you do not...
00:12:24
Speaker
I'm surprised that you haven't come down with it yet. Honestly. No, I am too. I am. I am a sick boy. Yes. Yeah. I'm like a, I'm like the kind kid in a Charles Dickens novel. That's never entirely described as sickly.
00:12:39
Speaker
Yes, that's right. Yeah. I mean that, that would be with a, like the sickly pallor. Hmm. I'm an indoor kid. Yeah. I really shouldn't leave the house. Right. And I know this.
00:12:50
Speaker
And when you've left the house, only bad things happened. you've been rewarded. What was the best ride at Disney World this time? What was the most you had on a ride this time?
00:13:01
Speaker
You know... Rock and Roller Coaster, which used to be an Aerosmith-themed ride, ah just recently switched over to
Exploring Game Genres and Hidden Objects
00:13:11
Speaker
Muppets theming. So they replaced the pre-show, which used to be like Aerosmith in the recording studio hanging out. and then they're like, oh, no, we're late for our show. We got to get across town in 10 minutes. How are we going to do it? And their manager's like, get in this limo, and we'll shoot you across town. That's the roller coaster.
00:13:28
Speaker
ah But now it's the Muppet Theater and now Scooter is in place of their manager and Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem are the band.
00:13:39
Speaker
So that was kind of cool. You get new things like when you got on the ride, the musical theme instead of like having to hear Aerosmith songs, which nobody wants to do that. Now on our ride, we got to hear dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem play a song to by blur, also known as the woohoo song that you might've heard in stadiums a number of times.
00:14:04
Speaker
Uh-huh. Here, you know, I was, i was gonna, like, I was going to react negatively to that, but then I was like, Well, it can't be a song from the movie, the Muppets, not to be mistaken for the Muppet movie, but yes the movie, the Muppets where like, I couldn't even tell you if that had good songs Maybe it did. are we thinking the reboot?
00:14:30
Speaker
Yeah, the the the Jason Segel. Yeah, I mean, it's got Man or Muppet, which I think won an Oscar, didn't it? Did that win an Oscar? A lot of shit wins Oscars these days. Have you been paying attention? All the Fast and the Furious movies. Every Fast and Furious has, like, remember when there was a little dignity to the Oscars and they were like, um...
00:14:57
Speaker
You know, we'll we'll wait until Lord of the Rings is over before we we we give them all that. But then they threw that all out the window for the Fast the Furious movies. Tokyo Drift. And I want to be clear, all those movies came after Lord of the Rings, all of them.
00:15:13
Speaker
Yes, every single one. If you look at the timeline, it's very clear. Look at timeline. Double check the timeline. Look at the timeline. Michael Crichton. ah Now... ah but ah every single one of those has gotten an Oscar. They hand them out like fucking candy.
00:15:28
Speaker
Yeah. these' It's the only franchise to get picture, best picture four years in a row. They should call it best partition. Yeah. should Best partition of a larger el franchise in the form of a single film. Best participation trophy. Yeah.
00:15:46
Speaker
man i hate listen is it is it is it is 90 degrees here i am so fucking and it's night time like it's the time of day when it should be 74 degrees yeah it should it should be ah it should be cooler than this but It's not.
00:16:08
Speaker
um We're sweating, folks. We're sweating. We're recording this in historic. We're both wearing headphones, so we're both like cooking our brains. Yes. For you.
00:16:19
Speaker
For you, the listener. This is a historic heat wave. Is this historic? I mean, it feels pretty bad. it's proof ah haven't even been able to go to the Great American State Fair because of all this heat.
00:16:34
Speaker
Oh, yeah, no. Oh, Jess, we were supposed to go there together. though we
Zork Adventures and Game Mechanics
00:16:39
Speaker
had those plans. We were going to meet halfway between the Illinois and West Virginia booths.
00:16:45
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We you were supposed to meet at the Great American State Fair. We were going to watch, you know, to both get baptized.
00:16:58
Speaker
You rented that Uncle Sam costume. Yeah. With the stilts? and the stilts and the voice changer what was going to change your voice to into darth vader i just i just i i i got it because i'm going to you're at the costume shop and they yeah they had it and i tried it and it gave me like a darth vader voice and i was just like this is cool so i got increasingly appropriate too so you know it sort of fits yeah do okay so
00:17:31
Speaker
You know, like obviously the Great American State Fair is a is a big time like punchline and sucks and all that. here's here's Here's my pitch to save everything.
00:17:43
Speaker
Oh, here it is. Turn it all around. Listen up, America. Let's get turn it all around. is they They should ah get a pretty big midway.
00:18:02
Speaker
Like, you know, with the little squirt gun game where you shoot at the things. You know, just get like three of the ones from like local fairs and just kind of smooch them together.
00:18:16
Speaker
Yeah. Problems solved. They already have like a shitty Ferris wheel there. So why not? Right. You know I don't think I've ever done one of those water gun games.
00:18:27
Speaker
never done the water gun game i've never done the water gun game here oh here's another thing they could they could add to really spice it up is uh they should get like da have you ever done uh like town carnival like haunted house like sit in a cart ride yes gotta get one of those and put all of america's enemies in there the democrats and all the rest ah here's what i would like to see Ben, picture this giant table on that table, roughly 100 small fish bowls and every one of those fish bowls a goldfish.
00:19:09
Speaker
You're standing outside of that a few feet away. You've got ping on on ah a 98 degree day. That's right. And the table is at roughly 93 degrees to make this slightly more difficult for the, for the player.
00:19:23
Speaker
You get a ping pong ball in one of those goldfish bowls, brother, you're taking home a goldfish. Wow. A lifelong pet that will definitely make it all the way home. ah Right.
00:19:35
Speaker
Well, You know, workshop this all day. We, I mean, we could fix this, but nobody came to us. Yeah. Nobody. and and I've been making it clear. I've been posting every day.
00:19:47
Speaker
Come to me for solutions. here
Towerfall and Game Collecting
00:19:50
Speaker
Um, Marco Rubio thought it was isn't even taking your calls. Yeah. Nobody. Uh, all right. but anyway, speaking of taking calls, it's time for me to take some emails.
00:20:01
Speaker
Um, Oh, wow. Emails. I love these. Now, if listeners want to email us, is there an address or should they just start typing random characters?
00:20:12
Speaker
They should email. Trying to get the level right here. They should email quest quest podcast at gmail.com. And maybe oh I'll read it.
00:20:24
Speaker
Or maybe it will go in the spam folder, which is where our friend Tine's email went. Sorry.
00:20:37
Speaker
we found it. So this is actually from a few weeks ago. The subject is games as albums. Hello, Ben and Jess.
00:20:49
Speaker
Love the music comparison in the latest episode, which
00:20:55
Speaker
About how the artistic journey of game developers is compared to how fans evolve with each album they put out. And you know what? I made that.
00:21:07
Speaker
I made that comparison. That was apt. Yeah. Yeah. Um...
00:21:13
Speaker
So maybe Hypnospace Outlaw is for Jay Tholen what Siamese dream was for Billy Corgan. Right. But what could be the Weezer's Blue Album of games?
00:21:26
Speaker
Which debut game seemed like a brilliant and promising start to a long career, but turned out to contain all of their best ideas and nothing could capture that magic again, even though they kept trying to chase it with numerous releases.
00:21:41
Speaker
Keep up the good work. Cheers. Partake. This is a really great question. And this really makes me think like, you know, most like self-respecting podcasts, you know, read the emails first.
00:21:56
Speaker
And then like have their answers prepared. Oh yeah. That's not how we roll. That's not how we roll. No, we want to be spontaneous. You know, part of music is about, you know, great artistic work, but sometimes music, we do more like jazz here. It's just, sometimes it's about the emails you don't answer. Yeah.
00:22:14
Speaker
Sometimes it's about the questions you don't prepare for. But yeah, I mean, I think it's a really, really great question. And I don't know if I immediately have an answer, which is what, so so to to say again, what series or developer Or like, you know, and we can even expand this to like, you know, studios, right?
00:22:43
Speaker
Which one, um ah and ill I'll put the email theme back on for our next email. Which one had like a really, really promising start and then like kind of diminishing returns?
00:23:00
Speaker
And are you a Weezer? have you ever I never got into to Weezer because by the time I became aware of Weezer, people are like, They're washed. Don't bother. Yeah. It just so happens. I am a huge Weezer fan. I would count. Are you?
00:23:13
Speaker
I really am. Yeah. We're going to see them later this year. um I would count the blue album maybe as like a top five album for me alongside Siamese Dream ah from the Smashing Pumpkins. So this is very much in my wheelhouse right now.
00:23:28
Speaker
90s alternative rock. I'm Gen X, Ben. What do you think? I don't like the blue album. Now, are are you going go see They Might be Giants this year? That's the band I've seen the most.
00:23:40
Speaker
You know, I don't have... i know we have a great question here, and this is good vamping as we try to come up with an answer, but They Might Be Giants I have... um I kind of have, like, a weird relationship with in that I kind of missed most of their early stuff. Like, I knew Don't Let Start,
00:24:05
Speaker
And not a lot else. I kind of missed like particle man. i miss Istanbul, not Constantinople, like all
Nostalgia and the Collector's Mindset
00:24:14
Speaker
the ones you'd expect someone to hear.
00:24:16
Speaker
Somehow I missed those. I jumped in and got really into the album factory showroom of all, which is and like, if I recall correctly, that's like, partially like a live album it's uh if i don't if it's been a minute since i've listened to that one yeah i mean it's got songs like se x x y is the lead uh lead track on good good groove yeah on that it's got james k polk uh on it which is a fun song couple albums Yeah. ah New York City that everyone's great. You don't have to wonderful have to explain. Wonderful song. yeah But that's like my chapter. They might be giants. And I've really not had much experience with them beyond that. I feel like they're a band I should like. How?
00:24:59
Speaker
you you You can't be like, I'm Mr. 90s alternative and then be like, oh, and and also a nerd and then be like, oh, but they might be giants. I never had a phase. I know. I know. It is bizarre. I know it's bizarre. I know it's not right. I know that I should be deeper into it. but Yeah. All right. right. Showrooms, man.
00:25:19
Speaker
But um so what are we going to What did they get right the first time and kept chasing? I mean. ah Because this is killing me because I know that I i know that this, like, that i I have played this. Is Myst a candidate here?
00:25:40
Speaker
But people love Riven, right? People love Riven. People, like, I also, don't think you and I are qualified to really... That's right. That's not our place to say. Yeah.
00:25:52
Speaker
I mean... But there's a lot of, i wonder... but No, it's like, because there's also like some stuff that's like kind of got it in one. Yeah. You know, like there there are games where it's like the the the first, like a lot of arcade games, right? Like, you know, I've made this point a million times. Like ah Pac-Man, everything, like I've already said this a million times. It's like everything, there's there's very little you can do to improve that.
00:26:23
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Like, that's what's kind of it. like you Like, that's one, but I'm trying to think, like, because the questionnaire is also like a designer, and I'm expanding it into a studio just to see here.
00:26:38
Speaker
I mean, there's certainly games, I think, that never got a lot better than their first installment in a series. Like, I mean, I think you could argue that maybe the monkey island series never topped the secret of monkey island, but they continue to make wonderful games after that. For the most part, you know, you could, you know, maybe make the argument that quest for glory never got a whole lot better. Actually the, the, the first one I thought of.
00:27:07
Speaker
Yeah. And I say that as somebody that loves quest for glory game, that's right. The whole series is wonderful. First one that, that came to me because I was just like,
00:27:18
Speaker
To me, that gets everything that they can do really well. And like, I like the other games, but not nearly as much.
00:27:31
Speaker
yeah i yeah and but again it's not like they fall off really i mean even quest for glory five for all of its failings is still a pretty good game yeah because and and it's also it's like within the like talking about weezer and and i'm not someone very familiar with weezer but it's like my familiarity ah like is that people just continue to be disappointed.
00:27:56
Speaker
Yes. Yes. That is part of the experience with their output. And like, it's, there's always a sense of, it's like, oh well we're, we're going back. We're going to find whatever it is that made that first one Yeah. such So powerful. And they've even had songs about how they're going to go back and be like they used to be because fans want it. ah Back to the shack would be a good example of that. And it's, and that's perfect okay it is, I know it's, it's both heartbreaking. It's like, we're going go back to like when we used to be cool and everybody loved this and we aren't going to have like, I'm not going to do like rap verses or anything like that. You know, I'm going to be the, the nerdy guy in glasses with the lightning strap on my guitar and you're going to love me again. And it's like rivers, it's just this is even worse this is so much worse than just what you were doing don't don't ignore it's like when a chain like dominoes releases a bunch of commercials they're like look we know we're shitty pizza but we're trying to get better and i'm supposed it's supposed to respect that like dominoes why prime me to think you're terrible pizza all right well you know maybe we'll be in the middle of this episode and we'll hit us but i will toss it back to the email
00:29:05
Speaker
yeah would love to hear people's thoughts gmail.com you know what do you think yeah what games were chasing success that got there and then could never reclaim it you know you know what actually like what is is that like you know I feel that like a lot of strategy games kind of could, could fit there too, because it's just like, if you make a really good,
00:29:35
Speaker
ah like, um you know, I was actually talking about this on the discord earlier is it's like, I really like, uh, master of Orion, like the first master of Orion. Um, um,
00:29:51
Speaker
And ah it had a very good sequel. um But the the sequel added a ton of complexity and stuff to it.
00:30:03
Speaker
Then famously, there was a third Master Orion, which was Dog Chip.
00:30:10
Speaker
Yeah. Like, famously. Like, it was just an absolute disaster. um And, like, that's a series where, like,
00:30:21
Speaker
Because I think there also might have been another Master of Orion remake like a couple years ago or something like that. um Master of Orion, I think like 2016, right?
00:30:33
Speaker
Master Orion, Conquer the Stars. wow um nobody talked to talks about that uh like maybe it was good sorry to put it down if it was great uh but uh that really seems like it it came and went right like it's like that's a series i would also expect extend that to the master of magic game i i spoke about last week it's like that's a series where ah People were chasing after the ah the the magic of Master of Magic, ah like both...
00:31:11
Speaker
Like with that remake that I was playing last week, but also it's like people, like I know like Stardock was trying to make something. Like people have been trying to chase that for a very long time.
00:31:22
Speaker
And it's just like, I just play the first one. I'm like, all right, they got it. Even though this is really buggy and totally unbalanced, has a lot of problems. I don't like I'm also thinking about games that, like I'm thinking about the inverse of this question now.
00:31:38
Speaker
like games that I'm kind of glad didn't get that follow up. Like, I am weirdly happy that there is not a follow up to Day of the Tentacle.
00:31:50
Speaker
I kind of like the Day of the Tentacle sits on its own. I mean, I know it's a sequel to Maniac Mansion, but i it's very, very, very different. Yeah, I mean, you don't need to have played Maniac Mansion or remember any details from it to be able to jump straight into Day of the Tentacle.
00:32:08
Speaker
And I feel like any attempt to follow up on Day of the Tentacle would almost certainly be a mistake. i I think the thing is... Unless I'm offered a chance to work on that project, in which case I think it's a great idea. Yeah.
00:32:24
Speaker
I think the thing is that, yeah, like anything that has like a clever hook... if you have a sequel to it, there's always going to be a temptation it. It's like, all right, well, how do we outdo that?
00:32:41
Speaker
And i like, you know, with something like day of the tentacle, it's like, let's not do that. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I could see on the one hand, like let's make day of the tentacle far more complicated, you know, which that wouldn't make it better.
00:32:59
Speaker
um I mean, it's a perfect game. It doesn't need to be, doesn't need to be fixed. Some would argue it's the greatest LucasArts game. Anyway, we have another email.
00:33:11
Speaker
This is from Chris. Greetings both. You know, somebody ah sent me an email with that. ah And I thought that was rude until it was explained to me that that is a common UK thing. And I was like, oh, I didn't know that. So now you regretted like sending back a really angry response. I say I you get off.
00:33:34
Speaker
I yeah. But I will say in my defense, it was an American who had decided to start picking up, uh, uh, like, uh, United Kingdom affectations.
00:33:47
Speaker
I'm a little behind on the podcast. There's lots of podcasts and not enough time of the day. I get it So please forgive that. I will. I'm listening to remakes, reboots, and retrospective. And I really appreciate Jess's mention of Cruise for a Corpse.
00:34:00
Speaker
but mainly because it was a reference to a classic that wasn't published by LucasArts or Sierra. Yeah, we should probably, yeah. Yeah, fair fair game. Yeah, yeah. Do you have any plans to dive further into the works of Delphine software or MicroPost Classics? He goes on.
00:34:17
Speaker
MicroPost didn't make that too many adventure games, but they did make...
00:34:23
Speaker
and I know you've referenced them in passing. Dragon's Fear, Return of the Phantom, Rex Nebula, and some TNG point clicks. Did they do the last, the did they do Final Unity? but that Was that Spectrum Hallibite?
00:34:38
Speaker
Whatever. Anyway, we need to, yeah. Delphine made Future Wars, Operation Stealth.
00:34:49
Speaker
We have to do an Operation Stealth episode, then. And Cruz for a corpse. Yeah. I'm not sure how the gender politics of Rex Nebular could stand up in the modern day. Might have to replay it to see.
00:35:00
Speaker
Yeah, you see, I actually ask myself this question a lot. I'm sometimes like, I should go back and stream Rex Nebular. But, and I actually bought that when it came out. I had like a boxed copy of Rex Nebular. I still have the manual for Rex Nebular for some reason. It's like I collect stuff like that.
00:35:20
Speaker
But... I'm terrified yeah that I am going to get like 15 minutes into that stream and have to like dive across my desk to hit the end stream button.
00:35:32
Speaker
I...
00:35:34
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I'm not even sure I'm comfortable with the full title. Yeah, I mean, no, we haven't said it. That's right, exactly, yeah, no. Not sure I'm, don't know if that plays here in the 21st century.
00:35:46
Speaker
You know, normally, if if you're concerned about saying a full title of the game, and then you're like, maybe I should stream it, but I'm concerned that it might not play well.
00:35:58
Speaker
You know, anyway. Maybe there's your answer. Maybe there's your answer. But what one final question. I think you should do an episode. That's not a question. I think you should do...
00:36:11
Speaker
I think you should do an episode on hidden object games. Ooh. Do they count as point and click? Many of inventory items, a narrative, even if ridiculous and some interactions with characters. Sure. Many are first person, but as was under a killing world, uh, moon and normality, another non-Sierra, but sort of classic. Thank you both.
00:36:33
Speaker
Chris from Northern England. Ooh, thank you. Thank you, Chris. This is great because What I need to know, like I like the idea of doing an all-hog episode where we're just looking at hidden object games.
00:36:48
Speaker
But i need to know, like, what are the canonical ones? Like, what... If you're going to, like, play three hidden object games, are there ones that are considered classics in the genre?
00:36:59
Speaker
It is something i know nothing about. Jane Jensen made a couple, right? She did. She did. That might be interesting to poke because I don't know... Like, because people, like, i mean, you played Grey Matter, a which was her her other adventure game, like, it was 2010, around then? 2009? In that area. Ish? Somewhere in there?
00:37:24
Speaker
Like, her her other, ah ah like, adventure game... um
00:37:32
Speaker
the uh hidden uh like i'm i'm curious i have no idea if there's a sheet when they remade gabriel knight for its anniversary edition they included some new hidden object sequences in there did they really think there are one or two hidden object sequences a couple of sliding tile puzzles you know value added i know they added a sliding tile puzzle and that was what made me think yeah i bet I've got Gabriel Knight one at home. And that's a great example.
00:38:03
Speaker
The Gabriel Knight one at home is supposed to be like kind of the crappy like the remake is the Gabriel Knight one you have at home, but everyone follows and understands me. I'm totally clear and perfect.
00:38:15
Speaker
Yeah, you don't seem overheated. Oh,
00:38:21
Speaker
I think I'm going to walk over and turn on my AC right now. going to take a little break. vamp while Ben does that. Okay, Ben is taking off his headphones. He's standing up. He appears to be wearing, going to say gray shorts. He's walking across the room.
00:38:35
Speaker
Oh, hes so he tripped. Oh, no. Oh, no. He fell on his coffee table. Oh, God. He gashed open his head. Oh, no. Oh, no. He's bleeding. Oh, Ben, don't try to stand up. oh Oh, he fell back down. He's dizzy. He struggled. He's he's back. He's he's made his... Ben, are you okay after tripping over the coffee table and gashing open your head?
00:38:54
Speaker
Yeah. Never been better. Good. Good. Excellent. Never been better. All right. Anyway, yeah, I would be... I've only played... and don't even remember it. I have to open up my Itch account to find it. or maybe so I was playing it on Itch.
00:39:11
Speaker
ah like I think it was like called Hidden Creatures or something. It was little black and white line drawings, and it was really, really cute. um I had a lot of fun playing it, but I have not... I don't really know...
00:39:24
Speaker
um like Any of the, yeah, what are the canonical hidden object games? Let us know. There have to be some. I mean, there are people, mean, that is a genre that is much beloved, and I have to assume there are some that are real standouts narratively and things like that.
00:39:40
Speaker
I played a handful of these to grab soda machine screenshots through the years, but I don't know that any of them were considered, like, particularly classics. They were just classic in the sense that they had a soda machine in them for my video game soda machine project.
00:39:56
Speaker
Um... But yeah, so yeah, let us know. QuestQuestPodcast at gmail.com. That might be something that we play. And speaking of things that we might play, what have you been playing?
00:40:16
Speaker
Ben, I just came off of My first real experience ever with the original Zork.
00:40:27
Speaker
I went back to the beginning. Infocom's classic Zork 1, the great underground empire. And you know what, Ben? What? I got z Zorked. I got Zorked.
00:40:41
Speaker
I got zorked hard. I got zorked. Okay, what does that mean? The implementers zorked me. They zorked me over. Okay. Retweens. So...
00:40:55
Speaker
decided to stream Zork because I thought like, you know, I'd listened to last week's episode and I was like, I'd love to play Return to Zork, but I've never been to Zork, so I can't return to it.
00:41:05
Speaker
So I decided it's time to play Zork 1 finally after all these years. My play through didn't go great in terms of the results, which is to say got about an hour and soft locked my way to giving up, which is unfortunate.
00:41:25
Speaker
But I will say I get the appeal of Zork. do see that even from the very beginning, Infocom was doing the interactive fiction thing much better than a lot of the sort games that would follow it in the years ahead.
00:41:45
Speaker
I mean, there's a lot of crummy text adventures from the and Zork is
00:41:52
Speaker
Really well written. The parser right off the jump is an impressive piece of work. I mean, I get the appeal, but man, is that a finicky game.
00:42:03
Speaker
It's anything you'd expect. It's got mazes. It's got a limited inventory. You can only carry so many items. There's a lot of like inventory shuffling where you have to drop items, go back and store things in a trophy case, come back and get the items you dropped.
00:42:21
Speaker
And all the while, every move you make in the Great Underground Empire is burning the battery in your lantern. Yeah. so mistakes can very easily catch up with you. I ended up at a point, and I do want to also say, because I was streaming this, I was using a walkthrough. Nobody wants to see me attempt to beat...
00:42:43
Speaker
Zork just like with honest effort. That would take possibly weeks and weeks do. So was using a walkthrough and the walkthrough wasn't super clear about one inventory management choice. Ended up with situation where I needed dagger.
00:43:00
Speaker
a knife, I believe, that picked up earlier in the game and dropped somewhere I couldn't remember. And the process of searching for it without a clear save game that I could go back to that would not lose a time of progress meant that I would burn out my lantern before I could retrieve said knife, at which point I put my head in my hands, I wept, and I said goodbye to Zork 1. And...
00:43:30
Speaker
I don't know. It was, i don't know what I expected, but I should probably, don't know if I want to give that another shot. I saw like 75% of the game as far as I can tell.
00:43:44
Speaker
and I got pretty good rank. I scored some points, man. And that's what really matters. It's it's really interesting. If you think about Like, one thing about those, like, about that era of adventure games is that, like, you know, because I just opened up Enchanter, because I was thinking about it.
00:44:04
Speaker
The infocom game. That is essentially... like a another Zork trilogy, the Enchanter games. They take place in the Zork world.
00:44:17
Speaker
And like, I'm looking at it right now and
00:44:24
Speaker
you know, an important feature of the Zork status line, or like at the the top of the screen, rather, is that it tells you how many moves you've made.
00:44:36
Speaker
Yes. And that feels to me... Like an integral part to like kind of the text not only just infocom but like text adventures of that era like design which is not a consideration of adventure games lately.
00:44:57
Speaker
Right. I mean, it very much, it's turn-based adventuring. And a lot the games, you know, that's not just like an interesting bit of information, like points might be in a lot of but it's very much in the first Zork at least.
00:45:16
Speaker
designed as part of the game itself. Like a lot of the gameplay mechanic is based around how many moves you've made. And especially the lantern, know, again, being a finite source of light that once you run out of it, then you are likely beaten by Groom.
00:45:36
Speaker
Yeah, it's there's a Zork is a game that has, you know, kind of this timer on it with of the lantern.
00:45:48
Speaker
And I mean, you know, I just don't the way that you and I screen might just not be conducive to at least those, like, I don't know if the later infocoms are quite that way, but like, you know, Zork is, you now know, having just played it, is very like related to adventure.
00:46:13
Speaker
Yes, and isn't particularly concerned about being unfair or moon logic puzzles or things like it's happy to embrace those again as just part of what this gameplay experience is, which i get. yeah I mean, it's almost like a game that...
00:46:31
Speaker
dares you to master it. And one that expects you to do that through trial and error. Which again, i think if you're the right kind of streamer, like I think of someone like our friend Robot Spacer, who really loves to go slowly and draw maps and really think through puzzles and things like that. Rates down a bunch of nudes. Yeah. But you and I are, you know, we're not speed runners. We're lazy boys. We're lazy boys.
00:46:56
Speaker
I want the game to be fed to me. i'mmnom I'm a little spoon. Yeah. I think also, yeah, I think the the score is there and the rank at the end, there is also, it's like, yeah, look, this is how well you did. This is your score. Like it's yeah kind of gaming it.
00:47:17
Speaker
So it's like, it's still kind of, but, you know, it's also, you know, those first games,
00:47:28
Speaker
Zork games are also, like, as I'm sure you well know, that's like an adaptation of a, like, a thing like Adventure, like Glossal Cave, where it was just, like, a thing that lived on, like, you know, PDP,
00:47:48
Speaker
you know, supercomputers of the late 70s or whatever. And then they chopped it up and put it into a trilogy. And so...
00:48:03
Speaker
You know, like, I think... i'm I'm curious, not as someone that is especially a scholar of Infocom, just a dabbler of Infocom.
00:48:16
Speaker
Like... how, you know, it's funny because the Zork games are so commercially successful when they're just kind of made by these guys to abuse themselves.
00:48:30
Speaker
yeah Whereas it's like their later games, you know, are tested intensely and they have like a huge staff working on all this stuff.
00:48:42
Speaker
And but like, you know, those those first three zorks are just like, you know, a bunch of 20 year olds being annoying. And as I understand it, even then, Zork 2 and Zork 3 get progressively easier than Zork 1.
00:48:58
Speaker
But yeah, I've played Zork 1. I've played most of it. I ranked as an adventurer. And that's good enough for me. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. I'm not a beginner. So, Ben, what have you been playing?
00:49:13
Speaker
Jess, I've been playing game...
00:49:18
Speaker
Towerfall. Have you ever played Towerfall? No.
00:49:38
Speaker
who designed Celeste. Okay. ever play Celeste? No, I'm familiar with it, but I've never played it. You probably have it from a humble bundle. I think I do. Yeah.
00:49:50
Speaker
Celeste is a...
00:49:54
Speaker
uh, is a really wonderful, uh, difficult platformer that is designed for people to beat. Like it, it is, it is designed for you to, to master it.
00:50:08
Speaker
I, I love Celeste. I think it's an excellent game. Um, Towerfall, which was made, i believe, like, I think it was like kind of the top shelf, like best game on the Ooyah console.
00:50:27
Speaker
Oh, oh. But now can play it on Steam. I'm not on Steam. not, you know, I didn't pull out an old Ooyah to play it.
00:50:44
Speaker
combat game, like 2D pixel combat game where you're on a single screen and you're firing arrows at each other. okay And similar to Celeste, it has a very tight and strong design. it like It feels good. It's very fun to run around and shoot at your friends. And it is a couch co-op game.
00:51:15
Speaker
because it's a very like, you know, you have to have like
00:51:22
Speaker
the, the quality of the controls. Like I'm sure could maybe make a good netcode for it, but I don't think that happened. Maybe you can do the, like, the Steam friend play streaming thing with it.
00:51:36
Speaker
I don't know. But it probably wouldn't work. It, like, it is just a very good single screen deathmatch game where you're firing arrows at each other.
00:51:49
Speaker
So then playing, like, uh... when I've had like, you know, people over to play stuff. I've been like, hey, you want to play this?
00:52:00
Speaker
They're like, what the hell is that? And then
00:52:05
Speaker
I dusted it off. That's another thing that I got like in a humble bundle a while back. And so it's just like, oh huh, look at this.
00:52:17
Speaker
Yeah, I have so many of those. I mean, between itch bundles and humble bundles, I mean, just games I've never heard of that i own. It's, it's really beautiful.
00:52:28
Speaker
And then there are games occasionally that i've gotten in one those bundles that I've gone on to purchase on a different platform a second time, not realizing I had, which that always feels smart. Yeah. My, my, my niece who's in her 20s, she once commented, to like, like she she plays games. She has a Steam account. And she's like, she was looking like, ah she was playing on my Steam Deck. she was just like, Jesus Christ, that's a lot of games. She didn't say it exactly like that. But she was just like, that's a lot of games. And I'm just like,
00:53:05
Speaker
I don't think you understand. Number one, I've had a Steam account since you can have one. Because i bought Half-Life 2 at release. Same. Yeah. So I've had a Steam... Young woman, I've had a Steam account since, like, you were, you know, just kind toddling since you were a toddler.
00:53:31
Speaker
and Toddling around as a toddler does. Yeah. So that's one. ah Also, i you know, there's just a lot of there's a lot of bundles.
00:53:44
Speaker
There's a lot of and and also there's a lot of steam sales, you know, as we're recording this, we're in a steam sale. But there were a lot of those early steam sales before they knew how to price things.
00:53:59
Speaker
Yeah, things were crazy in those Wild West days. The early steam sails were... truly insane um you could get absolutely some really good deals yeah this happened to me recently i had uh some friends over and we ended up playing uh jackbox uh games and as i uh you know switched over the tv input to uh to use my laptop
00:54:32
Speaker
I had Steam open to launch the Jackbox games we were going play. And someone commented, oh my God, you have so many games on Steam. I'm like, you don't understand. That number is not reflective in any way of my actual gaming habits. um it was But yeah, I was commented upon and I felt shame.
00:54:53
Speaker
Jess, would do you say that you're a collector of games on Steam? Not really, now Oh, all right. Well, that's been Quest Quest, the adventure game podcast.
00:55:05
Speaker
That was a short one. have a question about Space Quest 4. Yeah. So the fact that Roger at one point. Stop. Okay, I'm sorry. Today are talking. was a i have a question about space quest four
00:55:18
Speaker
so ah the fact that roger at one point stop okay i'm sorry um today we are talking About ah collecting games.
00:55:35
Speaker
Collecting games. You know, one of the things that put this on my mind this week was the recent announcement as we record this still recent by Sony that by January, 2028, they will be phasing out physical media. Uh, and certainly there's been a lot of, uh, a lot reaction to that online. It's been pretty powerful discourse in gaming circles. This question of, you know, sort of where physical media fits in their hobby.
00:56:06
Speaker
Uh, a lot of it focused around, uh, the preservation of games, you know, what happens in a all digital future when servers are shut down and licenses expire and things like that.
00:56:18
Speaker
But also I think from a collecting standpoint, there are a lot of people that even in this era of digital distribution like to have that case and like to have that disc, even if that game isn't playable from the disc per se yeah Because yeah, that's that I feel that kind of complicates i like you know so so yeah so there was this announcement ah you know earlier about like Playstation not doing and everyone's ah yeah mad um that was one thing to put this on my radar yeah there was the i like part of it part of it like my reaction to it is it's like that
00:57:08
Speaker
sucks but also it's like I'm reading you know the the statement from the video game is history foundation which they have a really wonderful website and some incredible videos they i hope they've been doing some really great videos lately um But just just pulling from from their statement on this that that they posted earlier this week.
00:57:30
Speaker
um This is from the second paragraph. which is The reality is the vast majority of video games produced over the last two decades... were not made for dedicated home video ah game consoles, let alone press to physical media.
00:57:44
Speaker
Even when they were released on physical media, a day one digital patch was all but guaranteed, meaning that even though a disk is preserving data in an accessible way, might not represent or may not represent the game that people actually played. Museum and Archives have been preparing for this feature for a while with the expectation that putting discs on a shelf isn't going to be a long-term solution for preserving new games.
00:58:08
Speaker
And then it it goes on ah ah about it. It's a very, it's a good statement. But it is, um like, it it does...
00:58:21
Speaker
Because that was something I thought about where i was just like, I mean, every game I like, I i don't really buy a lot of games day one anyway. But the ones that I do get um have a ah ah day one patch.
00:58:40
Speaker
Yeah, if you're downloading at least a gigabyte day one, I don't know what game you're playing. Yeah, and and this isn't this isn't you know this isn't saying like, well, Sony has the right of it or whatever, because I also think, and and we'll we'll get there, because there's also...
00:58:57
Speaker
you know i'm not I'm not an archivist. i'm not a you know i don't do the work that of the Video Game History Foundation or any you know similar company or group organization.
00:59:11
Speaker
um But so just as somebody, just some schmuck on the street, ah there is still something lost by not having a box.
00:59:25
Speaker
That's exactly right, Ben. And I personally think you need more boxes in your life. Tell me more. Because this is a road that really, like, big box adventure game collecting and game collecting in general is a newish hobby for me. I only started down this road just a few years ago.
00:59:50
Speaker
But i have to tell you, Ben, until you've been able to hold a copy of Manhunter 2 in your own hands and know I physically own this and all the things that are tucked away inside this this lovely little slip-cased box, you haven't lived.
01:00:08
Speaker
Now, I know, Ben, you're filling the siren call of video game collecting because I know for a fact you recently dipped your toe into these waters. Yes, those who watch my stream know that I did actually purchase Pac-Man 2, the new adventures for the Sega Genesis.
01:00:32
Speaker
The only official sequel to Pac-Man. Yeah. And, um you know, and i'm I'm holding it. It's in my hands right now. It's in this, like, let's let's hear this. This is the the famous plastic Genesis case.
01:00:49
Speaker
like i don't know you heard it open it even smells like it smells like oh wow how i remember these cases yeah smelling as the manual it has the cartridge here's the thing is that i don't think i'll ever know if this cartridge works i don't think i have a mega drive and it's region locked yeah i have a mega drive um
01:01:19
Speaker
You know, ah but i like I like the idea of having this. I like the idea of having this box. i like I like the absolutely insane art of Pac-Man looking terrified as he jumps off a cliff riding a... Hang glider. Yeah, a hang glider. I've seen him pilot wing 64. It's the same one.
01:01:45
Speaker
You know, there's there's something I like... about having this and looking, you know, looking through the manual and knowing that maybe one day i won't maybe one day i might have like get a Genesis or have access to a Genesis or, um,
01:02:10
Speaker
like you know one of those ah you know machines that that imitates multi-console do yeah these with all the different ports it's got a port for everything yeah they they they got ports uh every it was there a storm ah Any port. Yeah. Ben, what you need.
01:02:28
Speaker
you remember how the angry video game nerd had that like toaster NES that like looked like a toaster and he like put the the the game pack. I never watched the angry video game nerd.
01:02:41
Speaker
wow yeah i have never ever i know a lot of things about the angry video game nerd via osmosis because uh uh many of my friends fan of that ghostbusters video that he did where he say wasn't gonna go see the all-female ghostbusters movie you i remember you sharing that all over social media and
01:03:06
Speaker
ah ah Did he really do that? Oh yeah, yeah he he led the charge. Not because there were women starring in Ghostbusters.
01:03:17
Speaker
Just because he didn't think it looked like a good movie. He's boycotting it. m He's the angriest gamer you've ever heard. Wow, I mean, that's you know gamers can get pretty angry. so Especially on YouTube.
01:03:31
Speaker
this this This guy, he must be especially angry. I mean, he's the angry video game nerd. But all that being said, there is something lovely about that tactile experience of holding something your hands, especially if it's something that you love from your past, or if it's something that you just find it hilarious that it exists, which might be closer to the case of Pac-Man 2. Yeah, because I fucking hate this game.
01:04:03
Speaker
Oh, yeah, it's terrible. it's a I mean, yeah, inserting it into a Genesis someday implies that then you would have to play Pac-Man 2. And nobody wants that. yeah But there's an appeal there. And I mean, I am, mean, for me, my gateway into this this collecting vent.
01:04:25
Speaker
at least the modern manifestation of it was a few years back, my wife got me a copy of Kings Quest five for the and NES as a, as a birthday gift. And that's another game. That's like, it's insane that this exists. And now I have a copy and I've got the manual and I can just look at that anytime I want to.
01:04:44
Speaker
And it started me down. How often do you look at that manual? At least once a day. ah
01:04:56
Speaker
I do. Yeah. I do like every morning I get up and I do my affirmations. And then I read one or two of those. Um, Jess, your head isn't that big. It's the right size of big. It's bigger than average, but that's not wrong.
01:05:15
Speaker
Your head's pretty good. Okay. Um, so that's one of them. looking at a mirror. Yeah, I'm looking in a mirror as I say this. and just look at that giant noggin up there. just like yeah You're deaffirmating yourself right now. That's what they call it, deaffirmating. And sometimes I'll be like, you know, Jess, you it doesn't say anything about your worth as an adventure gamer that you couldn't beat Zork.
01:05:41
Speaker
while following a walkthrough. That's fine. a lot of people probably couldn't do. Yeah, like just you what you'd expect. But then i go read a selection from the King's Quest 5 manual. I pray and I start my day. you pray ah ah Yeah.
01:05:58
Speaker
It's like MC Hammer said, we've got to pray just to make it today. h Yeah, i remember when he said that. Yeah, that's one of his songs, Ben. Yeah.
01:06:09
Speaker
So how at this point, so you got some years ago. Like three, three-ish. You got three, some three years ago. Yes.
01:06:24
Speaker
And, and this is, and, and I'll say as a, as and friend of like many collectors of many different things.
01:06:35
Speaker
collectors say to you, you, you start with like one or two and then all of a sudden, yeah, it happens. Here's what happened. I got that gift.
01:06:45
Speaker
And then i was like, I love, this is my favorite new possession. You know, it would be hilarious if I got a copy of codename Iceman. Yeah, that i I would do the same thing.
01:06:58
Speaker
Yes, I was like, what if I think it was hilarious? Because originally I was like, what if I got like a bunch of bad games or weird versions of games? i'm like, what if this was my collection? And it was just a slippery slope. Then it's like now what started out as this one game two or three years ago has ballooned into ah an obsession that has netted me nearly all of Sierra's adventure games at this point.
01:07:23
Speaker
Whoa. And then a bunch of other random stuff. What don't you have? Okay, what don't I have? Here here goes. I do not have Quest for Glory 4. Ooh.
01:07:36
Speaker
o Okay. And I will say, anyone listening, you know, Christmas will be here in just a few months. You know, if you just want to send me a copy of Quest for Glory 4.
01:07:47
Speaker
I don't have King's Quest 1 or 3. m I do not have
01:07:58
Speaker
like Torrin's passage. Phantasmagoria 2. Man, it's out of control. Phantasmagoria 2 strikes me as one that's probably hard to guess.
01:08:10
Speaker
It's either hard to get or there are copies for like $8 right now. There's in-between. There's no in-between on that one. It's either $400 or someone is like has it for $16 or best offer. Like there is a warehouse. Like somebody just got access to the warehouse that Sierra had put all their remainder yeah stuff in.
01:08:33
Speaker
That's the only answer. There's some other random stuff. yeah Like I have a copy of return to Zork that picked up a few years back. I have some other games from my childhood that i really love. Seven cities of gold, a pinball construction set.
01:08:47
Speaker
Does, um ah does that come with ah the, did the return to Zork, does that have the encyclopedia for Asbazica?
01:08:59
Speaker
I believe it does. I believe it That's a good. Yeah. yeah, but For me, i like collecting. I like learning what's out there. I like learning about different versions of games or weird pack-ins and then trying to do this.
01:09:14
Speaker
Now, it's less fun in a world of eBay, where at the end of the day, you can have almost anything anything you want. If you're just willing to spend money on it. Like, there's something to be said for actually like visiting vintage stores and stuff. but I don't have a lot of those around here.
01:09:30
Speaker
i love anytime I can actually like track down something myself. But Ben, are you a collector in general? Are you someone who collects? Um, am am I would say i am I'm not much of one but I am susceptible to it if that makes sense like uh you know I have little i have little collections of things uh that that I've like you know kind of put together over over years I have
01:10:11
Speaker
Like, as mentioned many podcasts ago, i like, at some point last year, i ah bought a record player. And that is absolutely something that has become, now, that that has become a problem.
01:10:30
Speaker
Yes. And I think that's the case for anyone who buys a record player and is like, oh, I like this. It quickly becomes a problem. it's It's become a problem. the the The best and worst part about it is that ah a record store has now opened like 10 minute walk from my home.
01:10:52
Speaker
And it has pretty reasonable prices and pretty good turnover. Like it's small, but it like he does a lot of online sales too. So it turns over all the time.
01:11:04
Speaker
And so there's always something new to kind of flip through. And he usually keeps things like kind of reasonably priced. So it's like, oh, come on. It's not that much.
01:11:16
Speaker
You know, what do you want to pay for and a vintage album? I mean, it really depends on on if it's something I really like. But I mean, I will.
01:11:28
Speaker
Like, here's something. I got the a double album of ah the ah like the original version of Jesus Christ Superstar for like five bucks there.
01:11:43
Speaker
That's amazing. I would, like, come on. Yeah, I would buy that. And I don't even have a record player. Like, I saw it. It's like, that's a great musical. It's just like, sold. Yeah, sure. Like, I wasn't in the market for Jesus Christ Superstar, but at $5, you bet I fucking was.
01:12:03
Speaker
Like... Yeah! and And then, like, and so now... um i've started it's also it's like you know because music is you know there's so much shit and so it's like now i've started to like kind of fall down like little you know side quests inside things where it's like oh i've but started like now i have like uh i think four albums from that band which which i saw last year loose grapes yeah yeah the loose grapes guy that's right uh i'll back yeah and put please if you're listening to this on any platform that allows comment give us a hashtag loose grapes in the comments so we'd love to hear from you
01:12:55
Speaker
um Yeah, Loose Graves. There's a couple, ah like I just started picking up. like It was like literally, I just got one album um from ah ah bever from Beverly Glen Copeland. And then I listened it and I was like, this is great.
01:13:14
Speaker
And then I was like, I'm going to buy some more. like I got to lard up the shelf here. So no one thinks I'm i'm just a a dabbler.
01:13:25
Speaker
in his music like i got it yeah like no one's gonna walk up and be like oh you just got a just just one huh no now there's two but um but also like some of the other little things i've collected i have uh this is another thing where it's like i bought like i bought this one thing once and then like every time i saw something similar to it I was like, well, I have to get yeah Now I'm collecting these.
01:13:56
Speaker
And so it's ah those are over 100-year-old books of manners. Oh, I like that. That's something that my college town had a ah haded a great used bookstore that had pretty good shelf a pretty good shelf of those dusty old, like, turn-of-the-century or even 19th-century books.
01:14:29
Speaker
And, like, of course, there are a couple classics on there that were obviously extremely out of reach. But then there were just a couple things, and there was, like, this, ah like, a couple...
01:14:42
Speaker
ah books of manners and i was just like that's fun and the the the jewel of my collection is a book of manners which I believe is called the manners that win o from I think it is it is post bellum it is Not too far after the Civil War. I think it's 1880.
01:15:12
Speaker
Wow. Somewhere around there. I'm fascinated by this. And one of the first things I did was deface it, which is even funnier. I had John Hodgman sign it. Because I didn't have a... Perfect. I went to, like, a reading he was giving, and I didn't have any of his books on hand. And I was just like...
01:15:31
Speaker
this would be funny if you signed it uh yeah absolutely and so i defaced this piece of history sorry yeah um your friend john hodge yeah my my personal my uh you know i it's i my one-time podcast uh co-host like grayson um he was also there actually but he was not hosting um yeah it didn't seem like it anyway seemed like he was coasting if anything yes that's right thank you jess um But so I have a couple of those. ah and then like also...
01:16:05
Speaker
ah things that I consider adjacent to that so like educational like kids books yeah from then like I have like a little corner of a shelf because like those books are hard to find and if you're like actively searching for them they get expensive it's like you have to like for for me to to find the next one and this is a collection that I've been building since literally college uh so like to you know, a little under 20 years.
01:16:36
Speaker
It's like those books just kind of come to me. Like I'll just be at a used bookstore and there one will be for like a reasonable price. Most of the time, like if if I'm actively searching for one, it will be like, oh, do you want this thing for like $100 or more? And it's like, no.
01:16:56
Speaker
I'm no, this collection is specific because it's it's weird and has meaning and it's also cheap. Yeah. I mean, that was, and I do think again, you're getting back to the plan made earlier.
01:17:12
Speaker
It's kind of a bummer living in the era of eBay where it's like, you know you could get your hands on anything if you're willing to pay the price. Like I could go have the original IBM PC jr. Kings quest one.
01:17:27
Speaker
Right now, I can just go on eBay and pay the exorbitant amount that it's yeah that's selling for if I felt like blowing a bunch of money. But there's something special about actually finding something in a store that you've stumbled across. like That's how I ended up with Return to Zork. That's not a game that...
01:17:45
Speaker
that I mean as I said earlier I've never played it but it's uh certainly an important adventure game in the history of these things and I just saw it sitting in the store one day for like 12 bucks and I'm like yeah I'll take a complete copy of Return to Zor I would too absolutely I mean that's how i ended up with both the lost treasures of Infocom 1 and 2 um which are sealed have sealed copies of those that I got for a steal sealed for a steal here's the thing I You'll have to look it up. I think those might, I mean, you that might have the like reprints of the maps and shit in it.
01:18:24
Speaker
Yeah. yeah that last night I was going to say that would have been useful last night because I will like, okay. So, and, and, and getting into like the, the collecting of it all is that also like, you know, some games, especially like from an era, cause it's another like kind of,
01:18:45
Speaker
you know, disappointing thing. If you if if you're going to buy PS5 game in, you know, in a clamshell case, it probably is just going to be that on a Blu-ray or whatever. um And maybe like a little slip.
01:19:04
Speaker
Maybe. Probably not a manual to speak of even. ah yeah and and And sometimes that's it's like if you just kind of want to have that little if that box and just yeah you know have that, that's great. Yeah.
01:19:19
Speaker
But, like, you know, especially of that, like, I mean, you know, Infocom games, you have to go back.
01:19:30
Speaker
Like, those had so much cool shit in it that even if you weren't having... Like, you know, even if you weren't able to crack Zork 1, 2, or 3, you'd still have fun because it's like, number one, you get this really great fold-out map.
01:19:50
Speaker
This very handsome, I wish I held on to ours. Like, I really wish I had all the, because I bought, i had the Zork anthology that Activision put out. Yeah.
01:20:04
Speaker
when I was a teenager and it had all the maps and it had like all the, the, the stuff like all printed out. um And ah you know, i like just speaking for myself, I love a cool map and I love like ah a fantasy map.
01:20:25
Speaker
Like that's always a lot of fun to look at. And so you know like that's Especially for those those Infocom games, the
01:20:37
Speaker
their increasing awareness that they were competing with graphics which were ah quickly accelerating to make a pretty strong argument for themselves meant that they were definitely thinking about like how could they absorb you into a game in in a stronger and stronger way and having these uh physical manifestations uh were like you know kind of transforming so it's like listen i'm not going to tell you to open that up but i am telling you that the zork maps are really cool and give you you might have that right next to you you might i don't know i don't know i mean i do love that you know i mean i have one of the games that i picked up a copy of i think it's about
01:21:28
Speaker
my only infocom game of the older crop of them. I have Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And, you know, it comes with everything from your microscopic space fleet to the demolition orders for your home to the peril-sensitive sunglasses. And, yeah, those fillies...
01:21:48
Speaker
are pretty amazing. And it's something that, you know, for me is a big part of that appeal. I mean, I can get all these games on GOG and on Steam. I could, you know, if i were that sort of person, I could pirate these games pretty easily as well.
01:22:02
Speaker
And even if they're digital versions of some of those fillies included with certain packagings of them today, there's nothing like getting to hold that stuff in your hand. There's nothing like having that physical manual. You know, we've talked before, um both of us saved our Brady Farkas, you know, guide to modern medicine, and hygiene, or whatever that that manual was called, that we both loved. yeah I held on to the Grail Diary from Indiana Jones the Last Crusade for years and years after I'd long let go of the box and and didn't have all that sort of stuff anymore. That, to me, you know, there's there's an appeal to that. And part of it is, you know, I think,
01:22:47
Speaker
reclaiming little bits of childhood. they this For most of these games on my shelf, it's the second time that I bought them. I bought them when they were new at Radio Shack, and then I bought them later on eBay, sometimes for less than paid at the Radio Shack, sometimes for much, much more. I'm looking at on eBay at Lost Treasures of Infocom, and it does look like it has the maps in there. I might buy one of these so I can just get all the maps in one go.
01:23:19
Speaker
But the thing is, is that won't I don't think it has all the all of the feelies. I think it has the easy to reap. It has the the easiest to like just all print out. like It's like yeah there there you get a bunch of other trinkets and stuff ah with with the other ones, but those maps are still pretty fucking cool. so Anyway, sorry. I'll stop all stop looking at it, but I'm kind of like, no no maybe I want that.
01:23:42
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, what would be... like If you could... own any little piece of adventure gaming history like if there if there were a a game that you could just snap your fingers and be on your shelf what would be your white well
01:24:03
Speaker
what would i want i mean you know the like The original Infocoms, like I've said on here before, which bringer would be one that I would like for for sentimental reasons. But I mean, sentimental reasons are the only reasons that you'd have any of this, right? That's right. therere <unk>s Remarkably little value to any of these beyond sentimental. Sentimental values through the roof. You remember that episode of The Simpsons when Fat Tony said that about the violent land?
01:24:32
Speaker
No. Actually, I don't. Wow. But ah ah ah the, I'm trying to, like, you know what was really cool? I think about this all the time. and Let me reopen. Is remember is i remember ah the original PC Red Baron game, like the Dynamics game, oh man had a ton
01:25:10
Speaker
of, like, you know, I keep saying this, maps. Like, it had maps of, like, the, um, it it had a maps, like, World War II, or World War II, World War I maps of, like, the various fronts And then it had like this pretty thick manual with like a lot of like just World War II, or I keep saying two, World War one information, like just a lot like
01:25:50
Speaker
you know, just a lot of interesting stuff that i put in. At least that's from my recollection. i am looking here on on eBay and that manual does still look pretty chunky.
01:26:00
Speaker
so So perhaps... I wish I'd known this, Ben, because I saw a copy of this like a year ago Half Price Books for a very reasonable price.
01:26:12
Speaker
And I picked it up and I said to myself, Red Baron was never my game. I'm going to put this back and someone else will find it and it will make them incredibly happy. Well, I didn't find a copy of police quest for which nobody would ever want. no No. now does that make you happy instead?
01:26:34
Speaker
It makes me happy that no one else will buy it thinking like what I worried about was like, what if someone like would walk into that half price books and be really jazzed to see police quest for and buy it out of joy rather than me buying it out of a sense of obligation of like, i well, it's a cheap Sierra adventure.
01:26:53
Speaker
Despite everything, I'll just claim it. I'll claim it as my own. ah Yeah. I mean, I'm sorry, my my cat has picked up a new affectation of ah he's cleared off all the stuff in a corner of the desk and that's become his.
01:27:16
Speaker
But now he is, especially with all this war talk, he's like slowly trying to the Yes. his And ah move his, yeah, his trench a few few meters forward. he's it's a game of inches. it's it's He's like just slowly pushing other stuff off the desk and then moving over to the other side of my desk and then laying down on the opposite side and trying to push things further. Yeah.
01:27:54
Speaker
Oh, you little stinker. um I should brush his teeth. That would teach him a lesson. But I also should brush his teeth. But I've been bad. That's what that's how I'm disciplined as well.
01:28:10
Speaker
it's I mean, it's just a way, like, as I'm like, if he's, if he's sitting here, like right in front of me, I'm like, I have the thought because he's, he's a ah cat with poor, poor teeth. So I have to have brush his teeth. And so it's like, when I get these opportunities where he's just like kind of splayed out in front of me, I'm just like, all right, buddy, you know what that means? Here it comes. Fucking wash your teeth. And you know what? At this point,
01:28:37
Speaker
he He holds on because he knows that a treat's coming right after. Unfortunately, I've successfully trained him to not reject having his teeth brushed. That's how they got me, too. I'd brush my teeth, and my mom would just give me a piece of bologna, like, good boy, Jess. And that's all it took.
01:28:58
Speaker
Anyway. You know what? His breath does not... he I used to be able to smell... his like his bad breath like from my height like he would look up at me and i would smell as bad like that's how bad it was and uh that is not the case anymore thank god you know sometimes my cat blood clone will get up in my face and start to like sniff my breath and i'm like who are you to judge yeah have you smelled your breath come on
01:29:30
Speaker
Yeah, I saw you licking the floor the other day. saw you licking your butt the other day. ah Come on. You're going to judge me because I had Chipotle?
Collectible Games and Thrift Store Finds
01:29:44
Speaker
I think it's more of a judge if it's like Chipotle again. Come on. You've got that you got that great ah other Mexican place. Yeah, Bad Happy Burrito. yeah Shout out to Bad Happy Burrito.
01:29:56
Speaker
Anyway, all right. But ah collecting. I mean, Red Baron would be neat to have. um That's acquirable. That's not a bad one. No, no. I'm looking and Red Baron is an extremely acquirable game. I think Sierra...
01:30:13
Speaker
made a ton of these. Now we'll say if you start to like really watch these options for old adventure games closely, you can start to realize there's some Sierra titles that clearly Sierra far overproduced. ah what wait there's What would you say?
01:30:30
Speaker
Okay, let's see here. um You're going to see, i mean, Red Baron is a great example. You're going to see a million of those floating around for next to nothing.
01:30:43
Speaker
um Meanwhile, like a game like Conquest of the Longbow, I think is a much smaller print run. That's another one that i don't have in my collection. Conquest of the Longbow, Ben, that is one that I've been too cheap to pay for up to this point.
01:30:57
Speaker
It is apparently a rarity, especially if you want that non-mens Morris board, which I do. Yeah. How am I going to play non-mens Morris? You can play your family. Maybe one of them can explain it to me. you please, like, read this Wikipedia entry on non-mens Morris and teach me how to play it?
01:31:13
Speaker
ah Um... Wait... You know, I was ah i was watching recently... ah You watch the the YouTuber ah LGR?
01:31:25
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I just started... ah like i just watched ah the first episode of his thrifting series aha that he does. And that, like, that's a thing i don't think I really... Because ah the the problem...
01:31:47
Speaker
is like so if you watch his his thrifting series and I think the first one came out like 11 years ago and now like I think there's so many videos of people thrifting that you know people are aware now You know, it's a little, they're a little picked over, but it is like, so you live in an area where there might not be as many thrift stores.
01:32:12
Speaker
The problem living in a big city is that the thrift stores are all like you have to be fast.
01:32:23
Speaker
Yeah. Good stuff goes right away. Yeah. Um, and and, so like, you know, that's, that's the big challenge with, uh, like, you know, you, you, you have to, you have to find like kind of your own little secrets.
01:32:46
Speaker
Yeah. Like I found a good used bookstore that has like an incredible collection and extremely good prices. And like, I hesitated to tell my friend, like, i was like, I don't want I want this place to remain open, but I don't want anyone to know.
01:33:03
Speaker
Did I tell you about my recent thrift store find? Yeah, what did you get at a thrift store? Oh, man. Ben, I went to a thrift store here in town. Goodwill. Maybe you've heard of it.
01:33:14
Speaker
um I think I might have. I was at Goodwill, and I found, I don't know why I was looking through their VHS section, but I found VHS copies.
01:33:26
Speaker
From the mid 80s, they're the first VHS releases of the original Star Wars trilogy. All three in their boxes, like near mint condition, still had plastic wrap on them. $1.99 each. Hmm.
01:33:46
Speaker
was an amazing find. I loved it. Oh, so you got it. Oh, bought it, man. I'm buying it. So here's the thing. I think you could find a lot of those. I think I've seen those around.
01:33:58
Speaker
No. Okay.
01:34:03
Speaker
No, I think you probably could do it. mean, here's the thing. Probably at that point in history, there's a good chance it was the one of the most mass produced VHS is that ever been made, right? Like the first time that Star Wars, a new hope was available on VHS.
01:34:19
Speaker
Probably they produced a few of those, right? Like that they didn't. It's not like that was a limited run, i suspect. So, but I was pretty happy with it because that's the thrill. I mean, it's just like, oh man,
01:34:33
Speaker
this is something mean, I rented this version of Star Wars as a kid from my local video store um and brought home and watched it's kind of fun to reclaim little bits like that. And yeah, with game collecting, that's, that's kind of what I'm i'm chasing is that I thrill. of yeah i think I think a big part of it is being able to hold in your hand or to see on your shelf, like a tangible piece of something that has meant a lot to you.
01:35:09
Speaker
Right. And like, you know, and it, you know, it could be just something that's like a little joke to yourself. Like, you know, now I own Pac-Man 2, the new adventure yeah for the Sega Genesis.
01:35:22
Speaker
Um, But it could, like, it is nice to look and to to have that, like, to to have that.
01:35:35
Speaker
um And there, you know, there's something kind of magical about that. And so you have... So you found Return to Zork at a thrift store. You found Lost Treasures of Infocom 1 and 2. Yes. At a thrift store.
01:35:55
Speaker
Yep. I found xw wing And TIE Fighter. a That seems like something.
01:36:06
Speaker
Yeah, that was that was pretty exciting. i mean Both of those are cheap. Their games produced a zillion up. Yeah, you can acquire those like sub $20 on eBay, i think.
01:36:17
Speaker
um They are more available than I would have guessed when I picked them up. But again, it's probably something I wouldn't have bought just because I could go on eBay and buy it for $20. But to stumble across it in a store and be like, oh, man, Six Wing Tough. love these games. I poured so many hours into these games.
01:36:37
Speaker
And they've got the manuals and they've got the shiny hollow foil covers on them and their LucasArts games. and And I mean, that's part of it too, especially big box PC games, the aesthetics, you know, just the beautiful cover art and the, you know, in the case of the, um,
01:36:55
Speaker
Sierra games the slip cases and you know some have nice gatefold covers on them and you know like they in my mind look nice seeing on a shelf over here. Trying to think of what else oh uh Star Trek Judgment Rights found in a local um that's cool uh found in a local store uh what else here on my shelf has actually been an in-person pickup.
01:37:23
Speaker
have I was have a Frankenstein copy of Gabriel not one. um That is, i found a disc.
01:37:35
Speaker
Well, I bought an empty box at one point. for it on on eBay. So I had an empty Gabriel nut box, not the cool, funky, weird shaped triangular box thingy. It was just the regular Sierra box version.
01:37:49
Speaker
And then found a jewel case copy of the game at a thrift shop to to put in the box and also got a copy of the Sins of the Fathers novel ah separately from that at a used bookstore that I also put into that box. so i've i've kind made my own frankenstein copy of gabriel not one well and and also i think one i would be remiss if we didn't talk about the fun discoveries that you've made oh like in your manhunter box
01:38:25
Speaker
Well, my Manhunter box, I got my copy of Manhunter New York. um I didn't know this. I opened it up, and inside was not just all the stuff that you'd expect to find in a copy of Manhunter, but it also had some random police quest discs and some police quest manuals and maps and things. So that was a fun surprise. My favorite surprise, I mean, this is something that I thought i'd ask you you know, like, when you think about collecting games, which, again, I want to get you into so I don't feel so bad about myself. Mm-hmm.
01:38:55
Speaker
um you know, is the appeal like a sealed mint condition? Is it one that, and mean, I don't think for either of us, it'd be something we want to be playable. Like we don't want discs. We can pop out and actually load it. It'd be nice to have the discs, but I don't have to have them. I mean, I have the discs and I want to have the discs, but I'm never going to play them. I just like that they're in there. No.
01:39:17
Speaker
you know um And they probably don't work. yeah Or is it well-loved? Do you want a copy where someone has written down notes in the manual? Oh, I do like notes in the manual. i want that too. I love notes in the manual. If you could find if you could find in the back of a manual on the notes page someone like writing down like little stuff, yeah that's cool.
01:39:46
Speaker
I love that too. For me, that is like the ultimate value add. I've bought a few games. I'm trying to remember. I got something where someone had some hand-drawn maps that they had included in it on graph paper. And it was just like, oh, love this. My favorite, my copy of Space Quest V.
eBay Misadventures and Podcast Farewell
01:40:02
Speaker
When I got it home, when I got shipped to me and I opened it up, I like saw this folded up set of stapled papers. And when I unfolded it Like there was a Space Quest 5 logo at the top that looked really familiar. wasn't the official logo. I was like, where in the world have I seen this before? Oh, yeah.
01:40:22
Speaker
i like this. And it was a printout of the Space Quest 5 walkthrough that I wrote for my website, Roger Wilco's Virtual Broom Closet. Whoa. Someone had printed this out, stapled it years and years and years ago,
01:40:39
Speaker
put it into their Space Quest V box, and then I purchased it on eBay, you know, probably decades later. And I'm now looking at a printed copy of a walkthrough that I wrote myself in a copy of Space Quest V that purchased online.
01:40:57
Speaker
That's so crazy. It was crazy. I mean, it was, again, I didn't even, it couldn't even process it at first. Like, that is so where have I seen this before? Where have I seen this before?
01:41:08
Speaker
It was my own website. it's like, that's amazing. That that is, that is the, like the I think it's also, you know, sometimes, unless the the internet decides to immediately respond and let you know exactly how you feel or how they feel, which is hellish.
01:41:29
Speaker
um Sometimes it feels like if you're doing a website or if you're doing like some sort of project or something like that, like it feels like you're just sending out messages in a bottle that kind of go nowhere. Yeah.
01:41:41
Speaker
like kind of go nowhere um And like, ah it it must have just been so bizarre to see this, like, you know, actual, like, it's like, I have actually, like, I am opening a box, which unknown to me, I am actually part of what's in this box.
01:42:09
Speaker
Yes. That's crazy. It was amazing. I mean, that is literally the best copy of Space Quest V in the world. Like, it's a little dinged up, but there isn't a copy of Space Quest V that I would rather have than the one that someone stuck a copy of a walkthrough I wrote into the box God knows how many years ago and had no idea that eventually this would end up in the hands of the person who wrote that walkthrough. Yeah, and like you're flipping through it and you're going like, oh, there's a typo.
01:42:44
Speaker
yeah I can't read that. You give a bad review on eBay, included walkthrough has typos. Also, I met that guy. He's a dick. So we got fired for that blunder. Man, Jess...
01:42:58
Speaker
and i mean that's i man jezz I don't know if I've heard that story. I can't believe that. I'm not sure. I'm sure told you that. You know, it is... I think you might have told me that, but I don't know if I, like, I got as rich a telling of it. Yeah, I mean, and I tell a lot of stories. um So you probably tuned it out if I did.
01:43:19
Speaker
But no, that that's incredible. And you know, i almost had... in my hands very recently, quite a score as well. Ben, can I talk about my recent? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll we'll we'll wrap with that, let's say. Okay.
01:43:33
Speaker
So I was messing around on eBay as I want to do. And just searching around and I came across this lot of games ah included in this lot of games. Let me run through what all we have.
01:43:49
Speaker
The star of the show, I think what I came across in the search was King's Quest III, which, as I mentioned earlier, missing from my collection. Right. Yeah. Okay. So I'm familiar with this story, but it sounds to me like I don't have the whole story if you're talking about it in this way. So go ahead. Okay.
01:44:07
Speaker
Also in this lot of games, Sierra's Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Woods and Mickey's Space Adventure. They're two collaborations with Disney. Yeah. Also exciting.
01:44:18
Speaker
um Two Lucasfilm games, Kronos Rift and Rescue on Fractalis. Okay, that that one I know. Yeah. Rescue. I always thought it was fractal.
01:44:31
Speaker
It probably is. I don't think it has voice. It's hard to say. um The Microscopic Mission, which is a like laser surgeon simulator from the mid eighty s and a copy of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, the version I had as a kid with the full world almanac, just the whole thing, all of these in box, all of them in manuals.
01:44:55
Speaker
There are a bunch of other things thrown into basically what it is, what it looks like, Ben. These are all Tandy editions. um And they are basically what the shelf of my local Radio Shack looked like circa 1986, 1987.
01:45:16
Speaker
These are basically all the games that would just stare at longingly on the shelves and wish I could have all of them. And this was a lot. And I gave the seller a kind of lowball offer um and they accepted. So suddenly I'd purchased this giant box of amazing beloved childhood games.
01:45:38
Speaker
And then it arrived after like a very long shipping process. And I opened it up a couple of days ago, Bibb. And inside of this box. Yeah, I, yeah, I know. Were a bunch of computer manuals, not even game manuals. We're talking like manuals for the Tandy color computer, the cocoa and no games, no, nothing.
01:46:03
Speaker
All that sort of stuff that I had been so excited to see was now replaced with like a guide on how to use your Tandy dot matrix printer. Yeah. And other things like that.
01:46:14
Speaker
And I was heartbroken. It turns out I've since been in touch with the seller and this was a packing slash shipping mistake. And we're in the process of making it right. So I think it's going, there's to be a happy ending to this story. I think, Oh oh my gosh. It was again,
01:46:34
Speaker
I realize you can't buy back your childhood, but, but that was like a very large chunk of my childhood all in one place.
01:46:47
Speaker
Oh man. And I really wanted to buy it back. Yeah, I get it. I get it. And then got a bunch of dumb computer manuals. Do you have to mail those back? I did. i had to know i didn't have to pay shipping. They generated a shipping label for me. But had to go the post office. all Yeah, I'm just kind of like, that's so frustrating. Yeah, part of me is like, is it worth it to me at this point? Yeah. um But ah i think I think those stories are a good good place to leave it.
01:47:18
Speaker
uh you know collect uh collecting it's fun and maybe i'll start doing it but like just got another record today jess yeah you know one time ben um i collected like several thousand video game soda machines in a virtual collection and uh you know i think you could afford a few more records it'll be fine Anyway, ah thank you so much for joining us for Quest Quest, the adventure game podcast.
01:47:47
Speaker
If you, ah well we'll throw this to you. If you have any thoughts as to what the blue album of video games is, a let us know, questquestpodcast at gmail.com. Or if there is a a canonical hidden object game that we should check out.
01:48:11
Speaker
that that you think perhaps like has some adventure game crossover. I kind of think of, um like you know do those share DNA with like the Amarinta, Rita, i forget how to pronounce it, the the the people that did Machinarium?
01:48:31
Speaker
yeah like does that have like a little dna in there honestly don't know um we need to learn more ben i need yeah we gotta learn more so we're where to start let us know and also please if you collect video games i would love to hear like what's the your favorite thing in your collection and why do you love it or if there's one item that you would just love to have you just what's your white one game on your shelf what would it be i would love to hear from our listeners on that topic quest quest podcast at gmail.com uh five stars rate and review etc uh and uh be sure be sure to join us next week in which we discuss
01:49:26
Speaker
The adventure game, and I'm sorry, it is another Sierra adventure game we should we should talk about. We should branch out. We should branch out. It's a Space Quest 4. Okay.
01:49:37
Speaker
So, Jess.
01:49:55
Speaker
Uh-huh. So we discussed, like... There's the the Space Quest 4 hint book, which implies that there's another Space Quest 4 that we don't see, right?
01:50:11
Speaker
Right. Is this like a Leisure Suit Larry 4 type situation that kind of leads Roger into being interested in being like, you know, going into Starcon...
01:50:28
Speaker
and on the track to become a captain like is that what the lost space quest 4 is i think the lost space quest 4 is probably like leisure suit larry 4 just way too sexual to release