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April Madness (part one)
144 Plays6 days ago
It's April, so everyone is thinking about tournament brackets. Ben and Jess begin the process of PERFECTLY and WITHOUT ANY BIAS selecting the best Lucasfilm/arts adventure game of all time.
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
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Theme
00:00:23
Speaker
why hello my friends it is quest quest the adventure game podcast i've noticed that you've started to pick up that part so so now let's formalize it jess when i say welcome to quest quest where i just say quest quest from now on it's official you say that that yeah okay good let's do it let's do it all right oh well let's let's play the theme again right okay okay uh three two
00:01:17
Speaker
It's Quest Quest. And hello also.
00:01:26
Speaker
ah How's it going, Ben?
Pre-Podcast Rituals and Long Sessions
00:01:29
Speaker
Oh, pretty good. You know, i just i just had a, I would say a quarter of a whole lasagna that I made, I'm feeling it.
00:01:40
Speaker
I'm feeling it sloshing, you know? Yeah. You got a carb load before part podcasting. That's the only way you're going to keep your energy up. Yeah. I mean, we hit this down like an hour and 15 minutes. A lot of these sessions go six, seven hours. Yeah. These, we, we, we start recording usually at like, I would say about 6 AM and we're usually done in the afternoon uh and and and we just keep the best parts so if you're ever listening and you're like wow how are ben and jess so on top of it just be aware that this is like uh you know that that famous missing cut of dune uh that that uh david lynch like he was like oh
00:02:26
Speaker
I have, I, there is a version out there of, wait, hold on. I can't, I can't say it like this. There is a version out there we of Dune, which is five and a half hours.
00:02:40
Speaker
It doesn't have Timothy Chalamet in it though. No, but it has a yeah sweet, handsome, young Kyle, young Kyle McLaughlin. He's a little snack, but it has steam too. Doesn't it?
00:02:52
Speaker
Yeah. And he's a snack in it too. And he just wears his under ruse. I try not to support sting or the police.
Daily Life and Video Game Conversations
00:03:00
Speaker
mm-hmm that's not stuart's in it um yeah i mean like patrick stewart yeah patrick stewart brad dwarf uh-huh chucky himself chucky himself that's right ah brad dwarf uh it has a ton of sandworm it does have a sand sandworm from beetlejuices in it yeah they they they got the sand you know ah david gave
00:03:25
Speaker
gave I'm pretty sure that Dune came out before Beetlejuice. I think several years, yes. I mean, you want get first to pass about, yes, I think so. ah But yeah, David Lynch ah called up the sandworm who was ah ah busy physically preparing to be in Beetlejuice and said, can you please be in my new film,
00:03:50
Speaker
du And the the sandworm said, you know, it just kind of nodded. Ah! Whatever sound a sandworm makes, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just kind of like... so That was good audio, I bet.
00:04:02
Speaker
I bet a lot of listeners are like, I'm glad I have my AirPods in right now. That was great audio. um How are you doing, Jess? You know, i'm pretty good. It's been a good day. I've been... You had a good day. You know that song? That's a great song.
00:04:18
Speaker
It's great song, yeah. No, I've been been productive lately. I've been doing my my real day job. I've been grading exams and all that kind of exciting stuff. It's been a good day, but you know what I'm ready to do?
00:04:31
Speaker
What are you ready to do?
Game Reviews: Nubbies Number Factory
00:04:33
Speaker
I'm ready to talk video games, and specifically, I'm ready to talk about, Ben, what you've been playing. oh well jess what i've been playing is let me pull it up on steam because it has a very specific name and i want to make sure i gotta get it right um it is this uh brand new game that i heard it was brought up on uh uh jeff gerstman's podcast he was talking about it
00:05:06
Speaker
And he started describing it. And I was like, oh, this is this is a game that I am absolutely going to purchase immediately. And that game is called Nubbies Number Factory. Nubbies Number Factory? Nubbies Number Factory.
00:05:26
Speaker
Nubbies Number Factory. Number Factory. Yeah. Nubby's Number Factory is a game. First off, all I'll note it is five American dollars.
00:05:39
Speaker
And it is like it has it's it's a peg them up. You're you're you're pegling in it. And so, which is to say you're dropping, you know, a little ball and there's little like bing bang, you know, it's like a pachinko.
00:05:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:09
Speaker
like bad pre-rendered 3D look. It looks like a click and play game. Oh, I like that aesthetic. Yeah, it looks like a game that they would play in Hypnospace Outlaw.
00:06:25
Speaker
That's what it looks like. And so the marriage of like kind of Peggle type game with some like roguelike type stuff and this like very charming 90s aesthetic You know, it just hits all the spots for me.
00:06:53
Speaker
So that's what I've been playing. I picked it up because it was also, it's like, so I'm listening to his podcast and he he mentions it and I'm just like, oh this is obviously a ah game that I'm going to be interested in.
00:07:05
Speaker
And then, like, I look it up and it's i five American dollars. mean, that's nothing. So it's like, it costs less than eggs. I spend more on pigeon feed every day than that.
Value of Games vs. Everyday Expenses
00:07:19
Speaker
I spend more the bread that I feed the ducks every day. I spend more on the jelly beans I give the squirrels in the park.
00:07:30
Speaker
I spend more on the Reese's Pieces I use to have E.T. follow me around.
00:07:39
Speaker
There it is. Yeah. Well done. Well done. So that's what I've been playing. It's pretty good. It's ah let me see. Let me see. if Have they done any other? I'm unfamiliar with the other games that they've done. And so but that's what I've been playing. I ask you a quick question? Yeah. Yeah. Is five dollars the sweet spot at which you will purchase a game kind of unthinkingly on the off chance. $5.99 and I'm on the bubble. hour Like $5.99, I'm like, I don't know.
00:08:18
Speaker
$4.99, $5.00. I'm like, sure. I'll give that game 10 minutes of my time and see where it goes. Yeah. This... This, it's $4.99. Yeah, i if, if I played it, so last night i installed it, I played it on my Steam Deck, I had a nice time, i played it for just one hour.
00:08:40
Speaker
if if I never played it again, and I'm going to tell you right now, I'm going to play it again. But if I never played it again, i wouldn't be pissed off about it. You know, like I'd just be like, that was ah that was a fun hour. even if it wasn't, I'd be like, oh, well.
00:08:57
Speaker
yeah I mean, $5 plus tax. If you booked an hour at a very fancy spot, that might have cost you $300 or $400. Right.
00:09:08
Speaker
Yeah, like I, you know, I just had movers for three and a half hours. And let me tell you, that cost more than $500. five five dollars an hour uh i'll tell you that that one for free now uh jess what have you been playing and i swear to god you gonna talk about what you've been streaming no well you you know you've got it no i wouldn't do that are you going to say you've been playing king's quest 2 no i wasn't going say that ben
00:09:41
Speaker
Just quickly like digging through my Steam library.
Challenges with Cyberpunk 2077
00:09:45
Speaker
No, I'll tell you what I've been playing. I've been trying for I think the third time now to play Cyberpunk 2077.
00:09:59
Speaker
Oh. that You know, the first couple of times I tried to play it. Yeah. I bounced off pretty quickly, mostly because to get the game looking pretty decent,
00:10:11
Speaker
it just would not run at all. Like it was it was melting my poor computer. But now you got a beast. You got I got a beast. Now can crank it up to ultra cinematic mode or whatever. Yeah, don't even hear the fan running. Crank it up.
00:10:29
Speaker
That's right. So I am like I'm pumping out those F's, the P's, the S's, the whole thing. Now my problem is like now it runs smooth as butter. But you're like, I don't like it.
00:10:42
Speaker
Well, I mean, I don't even know it's that. Tell me if this has ever happened to you, I am staring down this massive RPG. Right. And the anticipation of the amount of time would have to pour into it has given me like paralysis to move forward. Oh, yeah. but If I start down this path.
00:11:04
Speaker
This is a serious life commitment I'm making. Right? I just can't make myself do it. I like play it for 15 or 20 minutes. I'll get a quest. be like, oh God, that quest is going to take like half an hour and then it's just going lead to another quest. For some people- And that was going level up.
00:11:20
Speaker
For some people, that's an absolute delight, but I know exactly what you're saying. Like for some people, that's why they buy a game like Cyberpunk. And I think that's what, I mean, that's me in and a lot of cases. Like when I buy like a Fallout game, that's what I want to do. i want to get hooked into, I'm in this for a whole lot of gameplay. Um...
00:11:42
Speaker
Maybe it does mean i just don't like it that much. Maybe if the thought, if I play much more of this, I'm gonna have to spend a minimum of like 80 hours with it is, you know, maybe the fact that don't like it as much as I want to is what's keeping me from doing that. Cause I'm not afraid of a giant game, but I'm afraid to commit to this giant game.
00:12:02
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah, it's pretty. It's very, mean, it's an impressive piece of tech. I haven't played Cyberpunk and every now and again, I get tempted, like there'll be a sale and I'll be like, yeah, maybe I should pick that up.
RPG Comparisons: Witcher and Skyrim
00:12:20
Speaker
Did you, but did you play any of the Witcher games? You know, the only one what I've spent any real time with was Witcher 2. Oh, okay, interesting. yeah Yeah, I think that it was the one that sort of hit big in a way that made a lot of people who hadn't maybe been paying attention to Witcher 1, as I remember, really go back and start to appreciate the franchise outside of sort of the niche that it was appealing to there at first.
00:12:46
Speaker
I think I may have played it on... was on Xbox 360. I think it was. I think it was. I played it there, and I bounced off of it pretty quickly. As I remember, what turned me off was the combat.
00:13:00
Speaker
Oh, I hated the combat in that game. involved a lot potion taking and stuff, as I remember. I hated the combat in that game. was really clunky, and I would... My wife and I were playing it together, kind of couch co-op, handing the controller back and forth, and neither one of us was really getting into it. probably put in like two or three hours, and we just decided to say goodbye to The Witcher. So I've never really spent much time with CD Projekt Red game.
00:13:26
Speaker
So I've played a little bit of all three. I've played the most of three. And I would say like playing two, like the combat was just too much, too spicy for for this guy.
00:13:43
Speaker
Yeah. The tutorial battles were a little too spicy for me, which is never a good sign. Yeah. Yeah. Same. And... But the funny thing about the Witcher games to me about like, is that Each time those games came out, like it was heralded by people as it's like, all right, now this is the one. Because I remember when Witcher 1 came out, people were like all the like gaming forums. It's like, there's this, there's this Polish RPG that you've never heard of.
00:14:18
Speaker
That's yeah unbelievable. And if you get the foreign version, you see nude women. Oh, really? Let me just drop down a quick note here.
00:14:32
Speaker
And then The Witcher 2 came out, and I remember like the same people being like, all right, well, Witcher 1, that was a pile of crap. Unplayable. Built on top of Neverwinter Nights or whatever.
00:14:47
Speaker
Awful garbage. Now here it is, Witcher 2. This is a game. this is really real. This is unbelievable. It's gorgeous.
00:14:59
Speaker
It was that hype cycle that sucked me in. The light no first one had some promise, but this is the good one. Now, so then played The Witcher 2 and I had the same exact problem as you did.
00:15:12
Speaker
And then Witcher 3 came out. And, I mean, Witcher 3 was an unqualified hit, right? yeah Like, that was a big deal hit. Like, people...
00:15:24
Speaker
people who didn't three is a lucky number for RPGs, isn't it? Yeah. There's like three, know, like anyway, so Witcher three is the one that I've played the most.
00:15:39
Speaker
I got, I would say probably a quarter of the plot through and I'm just too much of dummy.
00:15:52
Speaker
for The Witcher. Yeah. I stopped the television series too. I tried to watch that and I'm like, nah, this isn't for me either. I love... like how detailed the world is. i love how the quests are made, the performances in the game.
00:16:10
Speaker
It's all like, it's a very tight game overall. I'll play it and I'll be like, wow, this is like, this is a handsome game. This is like, like this is this is really it. Like it is, is very, very good.
00:16:24
Speaker
I just play it and I'm just like, this is, this is just way too fucking much for me. Like it's just way too much. And as I said, like for for a certain type of player, and that's me sometimes, like if I open up Skyrim, but it's so rich, it's too much for me.
00:16:46
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I used play a lot of Skyrim, but then I took an arrow to the main. And have you heard about the cake?
00:16:58
Speaker
but
00:17:01
Speaker
And that's the end of why we've been playing.
Listener Emails: Codename Iceman Experiences
00:17:03
Speaker
Uh, all right. Well, i guess, uh, you know, ah guess what we have. Some emails.
00:17:12
Speaker
Wow. The email song. We don't hear this enough. I wish we had a way for our listeners to reach out contact us. Well, you know, just funny you say that our listeners can do that by emailing us at quest quest podcast at gmail.com.
00:17:30
Speaker
We have two emails. The first one. Awesome. Dear hosts of the Quest Quest podcast, how are you? fine.
00:17:40
Speaker
Oh.
00:17:42
Speaker
During your special episode on Codename Iceman, you wondered if the beloved submarine simulator pushed it over the line to have the largest number of death messages a Sierra adventure.
00:17:55
Speaker
As a scum VM developer Sluicebox had decompiled all the SEI game scripts, I had a quick look.
00:18:07
Speaker
All the SEI games have different scripts for handling death, but most of them have a procedure called Ego Dead, which draws the little window with a death message and the restart, restore, and quit buttons.
00:18:21
Speaker
I'm pleased to say your instincts were 100% correct.
00:18:27
Speaker
Yes. The number one slot goes to Codename Iceman with 108 unique calls to Ego Dead, narrowly beating Quest for Glory 2 with its anemic 101 calls.
00:18:43
Speaker
Wow. So now let's go top 10.
00:18:52
Speaker
The rest of the top ten. The next one, Quest for Glory 1 EGA 88. King's Quest 7.
00:19:00
Speaker
71. Seven, huh? That's unexpected. That's very unexpected to me. Quest for 467. Conquest of the Longbow, 55. Conquest Camelot, 54. Quest for Glory, 3. And Quest 1, tied at 53. 56.
00:19:15
Speaker
fifty four quest for glory three and space quest one vga tied at fifty three space quest five and police quest two tied at 44 i gotta say the deaths in space quest four quest four police quest three are tied at 33 and then moral recordings who wrote this email to us says My question to you, do you have any favorite adventure games from the early multimedia era?
00:19:51
Speaker
ah Like the one kickstarted by everyone buying a Mac or Windows 3.1 machine with a CD-ROM.
00:20:05
Speaker
Oh, that's rough. That's where they get you. was like, for me... I think the game that sold me on the Multimedia Revolution was maybe Salmon Max.
00:20:17
Speaker
I feel like that was the one that's like, okay, there's something to this whole talking thing. But again, that's LucasArts. I'm trying to think early...
00:20:28
Speaker
I mean, was very much a Sierra and LucasArts guy. mean, I guess an example of a game I picked up with that bill. Maybe for me, my big Kyrandia one was one that I thought was very pretty that thought the production values were high on.
00:20:43
Speaker
Again, it did that thing that LucasArts did well that I think in its early multimedia, Sierra dropped the ball on. They hired proper voice actors. They bothered to think about sound quality, things like that that made me... As far as early games I remember from that era, that's probably an adventure game that left out for me is like, oh, other companies can do this and do this pretty well also.
00:21:08
Speaker
They can ape this style. I don't have any, but Moral Recordings continues. If the answer is no, can recommend a few. Okay. Spaceship Warlock.
00:21:20
Speaker
Wrath of the Gods. Gadget colon invention. Travel and Adventure, a.k.a. Guillermo del Toro's favorite adventure game, which is interesting. Yes. And The ah Cosmology of Kyoto, a.k.a. the only video game that Roger Ebert ever liked. That one I knew.
00:21:42
Speaker
They're all very good and they all run in ScumVM. Wow. I'm very curious about these. All the best, Moral Recordings. Thank you, Moral Recordings.
00:21:53
Speaker
Thank you. That's a lot to chew on. You know, I'm going to, because this next email is also about Codename Iceman, I am going to put in the the mood ah So this one is from our friend, ah Matthew.
00:22:18
Speaker
The subject is, liked Codename Iceman. Oh, this is provocative already. Okay, so I was just a dumb kid.
00:22:31
Speaker
I'd never played a DOS game that wasn't either Supernova by Scott Miller or some silly CGA arcade game. My grandfather bought it for me. He was in the Navy, and I bet hoped that I would really, that I would be really into it.
00:22:46
Speaker
Along with Space Quest 3. I actually got further in it than Space Quest 3 at first. This is shocking already. There's a parenthetical here. It took me far too long to figure out how to position myself next to the scooper in Space Quest three I was just a dumb kid.
00:23:03
Speaker
I think that's fair. That is very fair. It's not typically how you interact with most things in Sierra games up to that point history. That's fair dinkum, as we like to say here. on Quest Quest.
00:23:15
Speaker
I genuinely enjoyed it, and I haven't played it since. I don't know when I got the hint book, maybe even right away, but I had one at some point, and it's possible I never made it out of Tahiti without it.
00:23:29
Speaker
Perhaps also important to note is that we had a Mac, System 6 or whatever, and for the Mac, we only had two main games, Dark Castle and, wait for it, Sub Battle Simulator by Epyx. Oh.
00:23:43
Speaker
So perhaps I was already primed to be incredibly into sub simulators and the additional techno thriller and sexy wrapping around it was just what I needed. I'm reasonably certain i have not played it since.
00:23:56
Speaker
So perhaps having, after having played other amazing games, I would... dislike it, but I did genuinely enjoy it at the time. The part I found most frustrating was the mapping, which took me ages ah which took me ages upon ages in our damp, green-carpeted basement room to get right.
00:24:17
Speaker
Perhaps Jim will retire from her will return from retirement someday to finish Codename Phoenix. I sure hope so. Thank you, Matthew.
00:24:27
Speaker
Thank you, Matthew. that's ah That's great. I mean, this is something I'm curious about. I mean, I played Codename Iceman as a kid, but... You did? Did we talk
LucasArts Adventure Game Tournament
00:24:37
Speaker
about that? we maybe didn't i had a pirated copy so i just didn't get anywhere never get jim on i'm sorry no i'm sorry that's i bought i bought it since i bought digital copies and a physical and you have that actual yeah yeah yeah so i've tried to make up for it but yeah that's one had a pirated copy of uh like a a family friend uh a friend of my parents uh gave it to me don't know how he got a hold of it i suspect it was
00:25:03
Speaker
probably pirated multiple times before he had it. ah But yeah, you know, played as a kid, of course, without instructions and no access, you pre-internet to walkthroughs and things like that.
00:25:15
Speaker
I got nowhere. You know, i never, I never made it past the the CPR scene. Well, you know yeah, you didn't have the copy protection. Yeah. So I i was, i never went anywhere with it. So right it is fascinating to hear someone who played it as, yeah as a, as a child and had a positive experience with it. Cause I really can't put myself in that mindset.
00:25:35
Speaker
So yeah thank you, Matthew. Thank you. All right. Well, well, Jess, ah what are we talking about today? Take us through it. Man, we have a very exciting topic for today.
00:25:47
Speaker
Ben, ah over the course of ah of this episode, this week's episode, and I suspect probably next week's episode as well, we are going to determine scientifically objectively beyond shadow of a doubt.
00:26:07
Speaker
What is the best Lucas arts adventure game? Whoa. How are we doing that? We're, I mean, this will be settled by the time we're done with it.
00:26:19
Speaker
The way we're going about this. I mean, Ben, you know, as we've established before here on quest quest, the energy that we bring to the table, the hello also, um the, the,
00:26:31
Speaker
energy I like to bring to this podcast is really that jock energy. And as we record this, it's, uh, it's March and man, I've got a serious case of March madness. Huh?
00:26:43
Speaker
Now this will come out in the the second week of April. But fair enough. Yeah, i mean, a lot of people will still be recovering from March Madness in the second week of April. you dizzy or Or if you're like me, you're already getting ready for the next March Madness, ah you know, 11 and a half months away. So the way we're going to do this in the style of a tournament bracket, I have seeded bracket with 16 games.
00:27:14
Speaker
lucas arts adventure games they're going to go head to head in a series of matchups and whoever emerges at the end of this tournament bracket will be officially recognized this will be on wikipedia we're going to get our wikipedia guy grayson you have to go in and put a note on wikipedia that says in 2025 adventure game podcast quest quest colon the adventure game podcast ranked this as the greatest LucasArts game of all time. So we are this Wikipedia official if we can convince Grayson to do that for us Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:27:48
Speaker
Well, that that sounds wonderful. So, all right, take us to our first matchup. Okay, so we have seeded a bracket ah with 16 games or maybe 17 adventure games or maybe 15 adventure games, depending on how you're counting. This first matchup is going to cheat things a little bit.
00:28:08
Speaker
Our first matchup. We have eight matchups in this first round. Okay. And we're just doing the first round today. Just doing the first round. I think today. Next one. Okay. Next episode. Okay. Round one matchup. Number one, we have grim Fandango ah hu in one corner weighing at one CD ROM.
00:28:31
Speaker
it was I think it um it was like three or two. Yeah, it's more it was more than that. Yeah, it was some number of CD-ROMs. but Nobody knows for sure. It's lost it's lost to time. We'll never know. Impossible to know. Yeah, you can't can't find out.
00:28:44
Speaker
And this is where things are a little bit sketchy because really LucasArts only made like 15 real adventure games. So I've decided to do here to fill this slot to give us a nice even 16. I want to consider...
00:29:00
Speaker
two games together. I want to talk about Indiana Jones and his desktop adventures and Star Wars Yoda stories. ah So I think we'll, and I suspect, you know, I can kind of anticipate where this matchup may be going.
00:29:18
Speaker
Ben, like, what can you tell us about Indiana Jones's desktop adventures and and Star Wars Yoda stories? Yeah. ah Well, ah you know, and and I, you know, ah for full disclosure, I've never played either, but I have a pretty strong opinion on them.
00:29:35
Speaker
ah That's all I need. That's right. Yeah, that's right. i my My understanding of these games is that they're kind of ah like kind of these like Windows 3.1 windowed ah kind of little randomized roguelikes, at least to Indiana Jones. Right. Like, I don't know if Star Wars is randomized, but i think Indiana Jones was.
00:29:59
Speaker
Star Wars is very much, if I'm not mistaken, that's procedurally generated as well. You know, I would actually really be interested in in checking it out. as a Like, I know at the time, because remember very distinctly reading the the reviews in ah Computer Gaming World at the time for those two games, and they were extremely super negative.
00:30:26
Speaker
andbe Yeah, I think it was like... Yeah, I think Indiana Jones and his desktop adventures was maybe ranked as like their 15th worst game of all time in of those countdowns or something.
00:30:37
Speaker
yeah mean, yeah, these were poorly received. I played both of them briefly. Oh, so you played them. Okay. I have played these, which is why I was willing to include them in the bracket. I would feel bad if I'd never touched these things.
00:30:49
Speaker
ah I have played both of these in the last few years. I didn't play them at the time. Oh, you okay. Interesting. Interesting. But I've gone back because I thought maybe these would be good streams and spend like five minutes with each one of them. I decided these would not be particularly good streams.
00:31:06
Speaker
They're randomized, but they're very rudimentary and clunky and feel like that early era of Windows native gaming and like even down like the sound effects. Everything just sounds like.
00:31:20
Speaker
the system is playing a wave file yeah i mean as minis playing it sounds like a wave file every time you like crack a whip or you know uh you know shoot a gun or something like that it's um yeah i mean these these promise i think literally billions of possible combinations but uh in my experience You probably need to run through this three or four times at most and move on. These are budget priced value games. I don't think they were ever meant to set the world on fire, but they're up against um arguably.
00:31:54
Speaker
ah but According to some people, we'll determine this for sure. It's up against Grim Fandango. This is the number one seed. Number one seed is Grim Fandango. Yeah, I mean, i like, I don't want to say too much about Grim Fandango now because it's obviously obviously going to win this one.
00:32:11
Speaker
Well, we haven't decided that. ah But yeah, I mean, Grim Fandango, number one, it's an adventure game. Those two aren't really. that helps. They're adventure adjacent, but yeah, i mean, Grim Fandango much more clearly an adventure game.
00:32:27
Speaker
Yeah. ah And a beloved one. I mean, yeah, we will get plenty of time to talk about, you know, Grim Fandango moving forward. mean, we talked about a little bit last week in our best sidekicks episode where he talked about Gladys and how much he did not, did not win. i mean, I'm sorry, Gladys. Bear luck next time.
00:32:45
Speaker
But yeah, i mean, we'll definitely have a chance in these future matchups because I think this is a This is an easy answer, right? I mean, it's not clear Indy and Yoda belong on this bracket in the first place.
00:32:56
Speaker
We might as well have just given Grim Fandango a bye here. yeah moves on to the second round. All right. So Grim Fandango, we'll see you next week. All right. What's next?
Adventure Game Matchups and Outcomes
00:33:05
Speaker
All right. Now this one, Ben, I think this is a little bit more of an intriguing matchup. I think there's a little more meat on the bone here.
00:33:13
Speaker
Ben, in the matchup between full throttle and loom all right okay now this one this one's i think an interesting one these are both great games what were what were the seeds so you assigned all the seeds for this what what seeds did i looked at some countdowns and tried to rank all of these kind in order of where they seem to be Full Throttle and Loom are eight and nine seeds, respectively. So they're right in the middle of the pack, which is about where it feels like they belong.
00:33:45
Speaker
And very close to one another here. Eight nine should be a good matchup based on these rankings. Let's talk about Full Throttle first. So Full Throttle, ah that is...
00:33:58
Speaker
they're like Tim Schafer's motorcycle ah like biker gang game which takes place in kind of like this near future dystopia i and what I love about it what I love about Full Throttle the and the look of
00:34:24
Speaker
and the look of it um there's no i mean in this you could say the same about grim fandango uh there there's no game quite like like there's no world quite like the full throttle world uh that's one of the things i really have always appreciated about full throttle is that it is such a thoroughly unique and interesting world like i i think it's a real marvel of world building
00:35:02
Speaker
It's a singular vision. Yeah. Tomorrow's bits here and there from other kind of near future apocalyptic stuff. But it really does feel like it is, you know, its own thing in a way that's really fascinating. Like, I think maybe along with Graham Fandango, I think is a game that thrives on its vibes.
00:35:21
Speaker
maybe more so than anything else on this list i think it is a game where it's all about the sort of vibes it delivers with this setting with these characters uh i think it's a beautiful game it's a great sounding game i like full throttle quite a bit myself yeah um i got full throttle as a pack-in bonus with grim fandango oh i didn't realize they did that And so I really, I really loved it.
00:35:49
Speaker
um ah Like it was a real bonus. It's also, ah and this is true of loom. It's also very short. It's not a very long game, ah which I think is great.
00:36:01
Speaker
Let's talk about loom. Okay. Loom is, is tough, right? Like I'm really, i think this may be one of the matchups in the first round that is giving me the, the most consternation because I haven't played Loom start to finish, which I know is hilarious since it's a notoriously short and easy game. It's very short. It's very, very short.
00:36:21
Speaker
If you've played Loom at all you probably should have finished playing it all the way through. that Part of that is I've been saving it for some stream to come someday, which is a bad way to approach pieces of media at some level.
00:36:35
Speaker
I have played and completed Loom multiple times. Loom, the soul... full game ah by ah infocom implementer uh brian moriarty at uh lucas film um he uh was behind one of the false starts of the dig but he never finished it i mean who wasn't behind one of the false starts of the dig
00:37:05
Speaker
ah But ah Loom is ah once again, um a extremely original vision.
00:37:18
Speaker
This game about this, like this, this, this storybook fantasy, like fairy tale about Bob and Threadbearer of the guild of the weavers who, uh, has this special destiny and like, it has a very kind of straightforward story. It's the world itself and how you interact with it. That is so unique.
00:37:48
Speaker
Um, like each of the world or each of the guilds is associated with ah particular trade. Um, and each of those trades works like, I think,
00:38:00
Speaker
like kind of a magic within their trade, like sort glass makers and there's um like iron workers or something like that.
00:38:11
Speaker
And it is also ah scored by ah Swan Lake. And it's beautiful. just beautiful Instead of your classic a scum ah interface or...
00:38:29
Speaker
like even ah like a verb coin or whatever you only interact um like you can look at stuff and you can pick things up no you can't pick things up you can only pick up um one thing uh uh but uh uh you interact by casting spells um yeah performing our little yeah performing drafts that's correct um and uh which is kind of similar to ah the the infocom like there were a couple of those infocom uh games like the sorcerer uh uh series like that trilogy of games wish bringer is that one of those which was uh brian moriarty and yeah i don't
00:39:20
Speaker
uh it had spells in it but that wasn't like the primary way it wasn't the only way or the main way you interacted with the world okay and i guess in sorts were like you had an inventory all the anyway yeah um uh so loom is the first lucas arts game that i ever beat um because it's so short yeah and it's also an outlier in the lucas arts catalog um in that aside from the The Dig, which we'll get to, um it's the only... And I kind of... realize I mean, I guess Full Throttle isn't really a comedy, but it's kind of wry, you know? It's got... i mean, it's definitely going for some laughs along the way here and there.
00:40:09
Speaker
It is... played completely straight as this fantasy yeah and honestly it nails the fairy tale vibe in some ways that like i know that's something king's quest was always aspiring to but i think in terms of like storybook fantasy i think gloom strikes that tone really masterfully Yeah, well, King's Quest is like this kind of hodgepodge, and that's not putting down. yeah But that's what's kind of fun about it.
00:40:38
Speaker
Yeah, that's right. Whereas Loom is this... like this this very strange fantasy world it also again these this is a very even matchup they they have ah like it also has really beautiful art specifically yeah the original 16 color version i do not don't fuck with that uh 20 or uh vga version yeah nor should you no i mean it mean it's a great looking game too but boy the the 16 color is so much moodier and more evocative and just yeah mean if if i'm choosing i'm playing the 16 color version all day anyway my vote is very thoroughly loom oh wow okay throttle no hesitation on that uh no hesitation of that
00:41:32
Speaker
uh the stuff that sucks in full throttle sucks and that there's nothing that bumps me in in loom like that loom doesn't stick around long enough to suck yeah like they're both short games and they're both unique worlds and they both have great art but um loom uh doesn't have like the destruction derby sequence yeah or the bike uh fights or like that annoying puzzle with like the bunnies yeah like a full throttle has a lot of points of friction in it which loom absolutely does not
00:42:16
Speaker
It is a Teflon game. ah Yeah, it is a frictionless surface. You know, I was a little bit more on the bubble on this one. Like, I could have been convinced, I think, that full throttle could advance here.
00:42:33
Speaker
But the more we talked about it, the more I'm with you two. This isn't as open and shut for me, but I do agree. And now I want to say, before we started this, Ben and I agreed that if there was...
00:42:45
Speaker
not a conclusion reached any of these matches. We would just keep going until one of us gave up yeah and just said, okay, Ben, you can have your way. yeah This isn't that. I think that I am willing to narrowly grant loom my vote here as well. I think loom fantastic game.
00:43:02
Speaker
It advances on to the second round. Sorry, full throttle. We love you. i mean, this is tough. This is a tough position to enter the bracket in. you know yeah full throttle is a great game but i like loom more i like i'm sorry i like loom more it's too bad full throttle wasn't matched up against like i don't know zach mccracken it could uh could have advanced far in this tournament yeah but yeah so sorry uh that's uh that's just that's just how the cookie crumbles as i like to say right all right jess what's next
00:43:35
Speaker
Okay, next, Ben. think we have another easy one. We have a number four seed versus a number 13 seed. Our fourth seed is Sam and Max hit the road. All right. You're bringing the freelance police. One of, as I said, ah when we talked about comedy games, I would say one of the funniest games.
00:43:56
Speaker
Yes, without question. I'm right there with you. Um, and what's up against thirteen team number 13, it's going to be Indiana Jones and the last crusade.
00:44:08
Speaker
You know, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade had a couple big laughs, but they were all unintentional. um Are you thinking like giant kaju fistfights outside of the Zabla?
00:44:20
Speaker
Yeah, so when I streamed Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and I played the 16 color original, which also I think looks better than the the the later their later version in BGA. Correct.
00:44:35
Speaker
i I don't know if this was a glitch in the game or like a scum VM glitch, but it doesn't matter because it was hilarious. And I lost my shit laughing, which is that like when, uh, like, uh, a Nazi, uh, like started a fight with Indy outside of, uh, the Zeppelin, uh, like it was this, this scene where like, it's a big zoom out and like Indy is like a, you know, like a,
00:45:06
Speaker
three pixel tall little dot but for some reason like the game or scum vm or whatever started to glitch out and instead indie became like enormous like his normal sprite like his full size sprite so he's like towering over buildings and stuff But instead of them fighting, like they were not aligned with each other and but like shadow boxing in opposite directions.
00:45:32
Speaker
And it was the funniest shit. And they just started to slide around the screen. you was so funny. And also that was the best I had no control of what was happening. It was just that Indy was just getting the shit kicked out of him.
00:45:46
Speaker
There's nothing I could do. It was really funny. um indiana jones the last crusade ah is a lucas film uh adventure game that commits um like extreme design sins yeah i mean it's got some brutal stuff with the combat that is just i mean the maze navigation so combat it's got mazes i think You can dead end yourself. I forget. Yeah.
00:46:19
Speaker
Like I can't remember for sure. but Yeah. I mean, it's a, it's a game. I love, I loved as a kid. I think it was the first Lucas film game. I play, i think I played it before a secret of monkey Island. I'm not 100% sure on that.
00:46:31
Speaker
And I love last crusades. I, we talked about this when we talked about indie games, it was my fate. It's my favorite Indiana Jones movie. I love this, this game quite a bit just because it follows the movie so very closely.
00:46:44
Speaker
but I wouldn't commit to the idea of it being a great game. Has one of the best Phillies of all time. The Grail Diary. The Grail Diary pack-in. I mean, it's got that going for it, but there's no way for me that it is beating Sam and Max hit the road.
00:47:03
Speaker
No. No. One the funniest things of all time. Yeah. Salmon Max Hit the Road is a game I think we'll have a lot more to say about ah next week. So I don't even want to talk about it. it Yeah. it's It's so obviously better.
00:47:16
Speaker
yeah there yeah we yeah yeah that yeah Yeah, absolutely. yeah Close the book on this match. yeah it's a ah It's a big win ah for the Overdog and the Overrabbit.
00:47:28
Speaker
ah They have they've defeated Indiana Jones the Last Crusade. Sam and Max hit the road. The number four seed advances to the next round. All right. Jess, what's up next?
00:47:39
Speaker
What's up next? What's up next? We've got quite a matchup. We've got number five seed, Monkey Island 2, LeChuck's Revenge. And number 12 seed, Zach McCracken and the Alien Mindbenders. Now, Ben, you're a huge Zach McCracken fan.
00:47:56
Speaker
You know, I beat Zach McCracken as a kid with him. That is unbelievable. beat it. Yeah. When we heard earlier from Matthew, who as a kid did really well in Codename Iceman without a hemp buck and things like that.
00:48:09
Speaker
I can't comprehend beating Zach McCracken. I had a walkthrough and like a dozen people trying to tell me what to do. And I could not get through Zach McCracken. Yeah, you were having a really terrible time ah playing Zach McCracken. The.
00:48:25
Speaker
the Zach McCracken. First off, Zach McCracken has a really wonderful premise, which is that you're a tabloid journalist and you have to like, uh, you're, you're traipsing across the world uh, investigate like this, uh, like alien conspiracy that would be in a tabloid.
00:48:51
Speaker
and, uh, and It is, and we'll talk about Maniac Mansion a little bit later, but as someone that recently played Maniac Mansion, it feels like it is the true sophomore slump game to Maniac Mansion, which is it's like Maniac Mansion is this very tight and clever ah design. It's located in one house.
00:49:14
Speaker
It has all this like kind of clever overlapping design. That's really interesting. It's this fun little puzzle box. and zach mccracken is like what if we did that but like more and more and more and more and more you can go all over the world and there's a ton of locations and you go to mars and like there's all of this stuff and you control instead of controlling three people you control four people v that's one more and like there's just all this stuff but it it doesn't
00:49:46
Speaker
like it it's just more it's not better like it's just a lot of stuff and it fills it up with mazes and maybe they're not particularly difficult mazes but they are pain in the ass um i have video footage that would suggest either otherwise but they these are incredibly difficult mazes otherwise how do you explain the fact that i had trouble solving them uh well that will remain a mystery to me but um
00:50:18
Speaker
I mean, Zach McCracken, yeah, I think calling it their sophomore slump game is really ah good way to frame this. And I think, again, this is a matchup that we know how it's going to This one is going to go, i believe, unless you surprise me here, this one's going to Monkey Island too, right? Yeah.
00:50:37
Speaker
It has to. If you had to make a case, if you had to try to convince somebody that zach mccracken deserves to advance here what is the one thing about that game that you would say this is what makes zach mccracken special well you know here's the thing zach mccracken does have like a massive fan base yes it has the entire country of germany yeah uh uh the entire country of germany loves zach mccracken but it is like
00:51:09
Speaker
He's like Michael Jordan there.
00:51:16
Speaker
Beloved by everyone i and respected years later. i think something about having this enormous globe trotting adventure, it does have like this kind of madcap sense of humor.
00:51:31
Speaker
to it Now, you played the the later, ah like the FM Towns version. Yes, as one does. I played the 16 color ah enhanced EGA version.
00:51:44
Speaker
um And I really like, I like the look of that. You know, I do like those big head Lucas games. You know, I think it's just that it's so silly and weird. It's just that honestly...
00:51:59
Speaker
since it's like, there isn't, you can't really have dialogue. There is dialogue in it, but you don't like chat with people. It's like, they do madcap better later.
00:52:10
Speaker
Like with yeah monkey Island to like Chuck's revenge. Like, yeah. Yeah. the ambition of the game strains against, uh, what they're able to do.
00:52:25
Speaker
uh, so I'm not selling the game. Um, what I like about, I think, as you mentioned that, you know, it's such a shaggy dog kind of story at some level. I kind of love that you can tell it's in an era before you're worried about like focus testing, this sort of stuff. And, you know, really trying to think like, what's going to be a marketable game. and I know.
00:52:46
Speaker
a game about tabloid reporter tracking down bizarre conspiracies that involve space aliens. i mean, it's a, it is an off the wall concept. It's definitely not trying to hit like a four quadrant kind of approach.
00:53:01
Speaker
Beautiful ah Steve Purcell cover. Absolutely. yeah I mean, that that honestly, I think, may be my favorite thing about it. So does Secret of Monkey Island 2 LeChuck's Revenge.
00:53:16
Speaker
That's right. I mean, yeah, everything that that's the problem. Everything Zach does well, I think that Monkey Island 2 simply does better. I mean, and we'll talk a lot about Monkey Island 2 next round. it's got a It's got a hot matchup coming its way.
00:53:30
Speaker
So, Ben, are we ready to close the book on this one? Yeah, close the book. Monkey Island 2.
00:53:37
Speaker
it was a squeaky book for it needs to be oiled yeah uh that's going to be number five seed monkey island two advancing past number 12 seed zach mccracken we'll hear what the the next round matchups are at the end of the podcast And if listeners want to weigh in, if you think we made the wrong call on any of these quest quest podcast at gmail.com, please send us your feedback. And if we agree with it, we will read your email on air.
00:54:04
Speaker
If we don't, we may harass you. That's right. Which is also where we broadcast from. So you're good either way. I'm on the top right now. Yeah. All right. Our next one. um Number two seed, the secret of monkey Island. Now we're monkey Island one.
00:54:21
Speaker
up against Lucasfilm's very first adventure game, Labyrinth, the computer game. i was little Obviously, this is Secret of Monkey Island.
00:54:32
Speaker
you know Yeah, I mean, yeah, we don't want to keep anyone suspense out there. We're not going to troll you to the point. of and That would be amazing, though. if we were just like, you know what? Secret Monkey Island's played out.
00:54:43
Speaker
ah David Bowie's awesome. Labyrinth, you advance. Move forward. has some interesting ideas uh it is one of the handful of adventure games that douglas adams had uh a little bit to do with um but you know it's i'd like listen it's it's it's not secret of monkey island which is one of the greatest and most tight uh adventure game designs that has ever been made um Yeah, I mean, you I didn't realize this, but I've discovered as I was preparing show notes for this for this episode,
00:55:20
Speaker
i don't like Labyrinth because I discovered I cannot spell the word Labyrinth. You could give me... Labyrinth.
00:55:31
Speaker
Yeah, you could give me like three tries and I'm not going to get Labyrinth spelled correctly, and that makes me mad. Normally, I'm a pretty good speller, but don't want to brag. I was a regional spelling bee champion. Ooh.
00:55:42
Speaker
Yeah. Do you fail when you made it to like nationals or whatever? And they asked me lab breath. David Bowie was the guest judge. And he said, Jess, it's me, David Bowie.
00:55:53
Speaker
That's hold on. i had a David Bowie at one time. And it's me, Ziggy Stardust. Yours, yours sounds, your, your David Bowie sounds a little bit, uh, Beatlesy.
00:56:09
Speaker
uh i'm liverpool isn't it uh it's like oh man now now like oh i i had i had a david bowie and this is killing me it's like uh but now all i can do is now i'm just thinking of doing a beatles voice which isn't it's me david bowie peace and love now it's like Hello, Joseph, it's me, David Bowie. How about you check out my new game?
00:56:38
Speaker
It's called Labyrinth. It's out now for the Commodore 64. And you can also play it on an Atari 800. Nailed
00:56:49
Speaker
Me and the boys, we all play Atari 800 in Berlin. I'm also doing a lot of heroin.
00:57:00
Speaker
I'm the thin white duke. That's what they call me. Robbo reinventing myself. ah Terrible. Terrible, terrible, terrible.
00:57:11
Speaker
I've always reinvented. That was what always loved about David Bowie is when you would give interviews. They're like, so what's up, David Bowie? I'm working on the new reinvention of my whole persona.
00:57:23
Speaker
Have you noticed me hair and makeup are different? Did you notice I'm wearing a new outfit for Earthling?
00:57:35
Speaker
Well, you know, actually, Ben, this is maybe swaying me a little bit toward Labyrinth. but i mean laugh labyrth I mean, first of all, it looks like Habitat. LucasArts, fascinating, you know, like multi-user dungeon ah sort of game. It's got that going for it. It has like an early point-and-click, verb, interface-y kind of thing, pre yeah sort of pre-widespread use of mice, but at least it was a no-typing interface.
00:58:02
Speaker
I think my favorite thing about it is it does like the Wizard of Oz trick, where it starts out as a text adventure. Yes, that's a very clever idea. Yeah, then you go sit down a movie theater and much like Wizard of Oz goes from black and white to Technicolor, all of a sudden this text adventure ah becomes a graphic adventure right before your eyes. And you're pulled in by the Goblin King. Yes, it's me, the Goblin King.
00:58:28
Speaker
Hello, it's me, the Goblin King. Jareth, I think I've never seen the movie. You've never seen Labyrinth? No, or Dark Crystal, and I can't keep them straight always.
00:58:39
Speaker
Well, here's the thing. ah Labyrinth is better, but they're both fine. Which is a better game, Sierra's Dark Crystal or LucasArts?
00:58:53
Speaker
Oh, yeah, Labyrinth, easy. Anyway, it's Secret of Monkey Island. I don't know if you guys have heard about this game, Secret of Monkey Island. It's pretty good. It may go far in this tournament. but ah My favorite part is where you have to cross the bridge in Sacred of Monkey Island.
00:59:14
Speaker
With a troll. Yeah, and it turns out it's George Lucas. That's pretty funny.
00:59:22
Speaker
I'm glad i'm I'm hoping that all of our listeners out in the, out in the UK are really enjoying. They love this. but they can get There's nothing they enjoy here. How about, how about this? How about this? ah All I could do ah Let's see if I have it in my pocket.
00:59:38
Speaker
An impression bad, like a, a bad British. version of an american accent oh okay yeah well well hello there jess
00:59:56
Speaker
i'm from new york city it's very nasal and it's kind of slow like it it comes out from the nose mm-hmm And it's like, my favorite game is the secret of Monkey Island. Like, and every now and again, there's a little slip up.
01:00:19
Speaker
I feel like if you, like, took that down ah little bit, quickly it gets into frosty chocolate milkshakes territory.
01:00:34
Speaker
I think...
01:00:37
Speaker
frosty chocolate milkshakes thank you i just like when you say that want a frosty chocolate milkshake i'm from oklahoma
01:00:50
Speaker
right, what's next? What's next? Okay, Dave, okay. Secret Monkey Island advances, obviously. This next one's a little bit more interesting. We've got number seven seed, The Curse of Monkey Island.
01:01:00
Speaker
We're knocking out these Monkey Islands now. yeah The Curse of Monkey Island versus Maniac Mansion. oh man i wish i had uh uh the song loaded up i'm gonna have to get that ready on the board um maniac mansion is uh a important game it's a beautiful design yes i think it's a really beautiful design i think it is a really fascinating uh design i think it
01:01:35
Speaker
um it lays out a template for what they're going to be doing um in the same way that secret of monkey island uh does and i'll probably talk about that a lot the next week um but uh you know maniac mansion a game where you're three horny teens and Is that established? It's not all of them horny.
01:02:03
Speaker
But ah but but in the man in the version of the manual that I have, it yeah it says next to each of the characters. And I will say, just give you guys an idea of what's coming, after we finish with this bracket next week, our next bracket is Horniest Teen in Maniac Mansion. So... I was ah i was at a ah comedy show last, like a comedy show that was trying to do like successfully. It was very good.
01:02:28
Speaker
ah Like that was doing kind of like a British like quiz show, like panel show type thing. ah And they did ah a ah whole ah like round of questions on Grease 2. And that was delightful.
01:02:46
Speaker
Oh, man. Because who the fuck knows anything about Grease 2? Man, I'm a cool, cool, cool, cool writer. And i know a lot about Grease 2. Oh, you would have run the board on these chucklers.
01:03:01
Speaker
ah I think it's better than the first one. That's an insane opinion. but There is someone in the audience that yelled out. She's like, well, I like it more because it's like less problematic. And it's like, that may be true. I've not seen.
01:03:15
Speaker
yeah uh agrees to but you're also just objectively wrong yeah like yeah yeah no i mean exactly yeah i think this is yeah that would be like you know picking sack mccracken over my gallon too just some some things are just better than others uh anyway it's a it's a really beautiful uh and clever design ah exploring i think exploring a big spooky house in a game is fun it is it's it's got big scooby-doo energy yep it's ah i mean is i love the nes version it's the first one i played uh i love the fact that it has like a constant soundtrack going uh whereas you know the original little bit more silent i find the nes graphics actually a little bit more charming than how it appears harming aren't they yeah
01:04:05
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, there's a lot I like about Maniac Mansion. I will say for me, it is such an intricate design that I don't think I could ever make it through Maniac Mansion without a walkthrough at least some sort of memory of the last time I played it to go on. I never beat Maniac Mansion on my own.
01:04:24
Speaker
I read it like four times for NES. And in those four weekends, I was never able to, I played it a lot because there's a lot you can do even if you aren't really making progress in the game per se, but never really quite figured out what to do with it. But I mean, it is, it's impressive. it introduces the scum engine. It is ah design that I don't know. Again, just in terms of like a feat of game design, i don't know if they quite match it, honestly, until the sequel.
01:04:53
Speaker
that you control three horny teens um that each has like three different uh like they each have their own set of abilities and then ah those abilities can be um
01:05:11
Speaker
uh can like can be mixed up because you select you can see yeah from a pool of different horny teens um you know that it's it's so clever it's so interesting but also curse of monk island is hilarious and fun and beautiful and uh it cracked my head open when I played it as a third, like 12, 13 came in 97, 11.
01:05:39
Speaker
came out ninety seven ah live yeah um uh oh no oh no i was 20 when i played this yeah yeah i'm sorry i was in college i was in damn college sorry i'm sorry jess it was a very exciting christmas when i got crucible island uh and so unfortunately uh now and let's all keep in mind that we are doing this extremely scientifically ah but um uh yeah um it it uh i that has a very special place in my heart it's uh for me it's curse curse curse
01:06:14
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's Curse for me all the way, too. and We'll talk more about what we love about Curse next round. But, you know, I do want to point out all of these games that are being eliminated this round, of course, are tying for last place. So in this world, Maniac Mansion isn't exactly the same category as Indiana Jones' Desktop Adventures.
01:06:33
Speaker
I'm sorry, they're now equally good. Yeah, exactly. they've been discarded. ah That's too bad, but that's how tournaments work. What's next? Next, we're we're coming into our seventh matchup this round. All right, almost done. wait Okay. we have Are you in a hurry? Do you have somewhere to be? Yeah, I'm going a late night dentist.
01:06:54
Speaker
Really? Why are you having done? oh i'm I'm adding new teeth. Finally. Getting like, you know, I've just been looking at my mouth and seeing like kind of some nooks and crannies that could use a couple new teeth.
01:07:09
Speaker
And, ah you know, the all night, late night dentist, you know, into all sorts of freaky shit. So it's like, yeah, hey, can you put a tooth on my tongue? That'd be interesting.
01:07:21
Speaker
And he's just like, hell yeah, my man. You want to do you want a bump of the laughing gas? and Like, yes, I do. and then then we do it. And, ah you know, i wake up and I'm missing a couple organs, but my mouth is full of teeth.
01:07:38
Speaker
I mean, yeah, you've never looked better, honestly. Yeah. I'd love to know if this guy takes my insurance. i'm I'm organ minning and teeth maxing. You're enamel peeled. Yeah. ah Okay.
01:07:50
Speaker
So next matchup, we're at number three seed, Day of the Tentacle. And number 14 seed, Escape from Monkey Island. All right. Yeah, this one, obviously, extremely easy.
01:08:05
Speaker
I alright so yeah we're we're we're focus thing we're focusing a lot like we're giving a lot of the air to the obvious losers and so escape from monkey island will always be that massive disappointment to me because I got I got escape from monkey island like right at release and curse of monkey island was so special and then i played escape from monkey island and not only did it barely run on my computer at the time but it was also bad and not fun to play um which was even more
01:08:38
Speaker
um it it took the interface from grim fandango and said like what if we made it more complicated yeah that's right yeah yeah yeah absolutely that's a good way to put it you know I think the biggest sin it commits is exactly what you said. It's just not very fun to play. I mean, even when...
01:08:58
Speaker
like secret of monkey island with Chuck's revenge curse of monkey island, even when their puzzles get a little bit complicated, it is still light and breezy enough that you're having fun while you play.
01:09:11
Speaker
Yeah. This one. Yeah. Even just down to the fact that you're fighting with the interface constantly, you're fighting and just everything's clunkier and you're fighting with the interface. Everything's clunkier. I also just think that it's just, it lacks, uh,
01:09:26
Speaker
ah It lacks the special something that makes a Monkey Island game good. um And that's even like if this was even like a 2D game using the the classic scum interface.
01:09:38
Speaker
I just don't think that the writing is as good. and my i don't think the Aussie Mandrill storyline ever clicks. I don't think it ever manages to be a quite effective as satire or parody or whatever it's going for.
01:09:55
Speaker
There's too much plot. ah It is. There's lot story in... story in escape from monkey island you're you're there's a story of like you know this uh elaine trying to become governor again and this land grab and then like chuck is in this disguise and but blah blah blah blah it's it's all very very like there's a lot of twists and turns and it There's all the commercialization of the Caribbean thing where it's like we have Star Buccaneers and Planet Threepwood.
01:10:32
Speaker
It just doesn't... It just doesn't... I don't know. It just does not... None of it ever gels. it It just doesn't feel... i think I think what... I think kind of the secret sauce of those other three Monkey Island games, and then even the other two that come after it, is that they are ridiculous, and they have anachronisms, and they have, you know, all this stuff in them.
01:11:06
Speaker
But at the same time... um they still are conceivably in that pirates of the Caribbean, uh, ride.
01:11:19
Speaker
Like the, it has enough. Yeah. That, uh, like kind of, um, fantasy, uh, pirate adventure in there.
01:11:32
Speaker
that uh escape gets the the the balance wrong my dad once made um he once made a banana bread and he mixed up ah baking powder and baking soda ah and it was disgusting and inedible it was absolutely some of the most vile shit i've ever eaten my life and i this isn't the most vile game i've played in my life but it it it feels like they put in baking soda instead of baking powder
01:12:16
Speaker
I like this analogy. You know, let me make my case for Escape from Monkey Island with the full disclosure that obviously Day of the Tentacle is advancing here. Right. so Something I like about Escape from Monkey Island that's also unfortunate about it, actually think that Escape from Monkey Island for a relatively early 3D adventure game looks pretty good but the only problem is even looking pretty good for an early 3d adventure game it still looks worse than the three games in the series that preceded it i don't even think it looks i like uh i like guy brushes maroon yeah outfit but that's it um i don't like the pre-renders
01:13:03
Speaker
I don't love the pre-runners. I like the models in general. I think the models look kind of clean. I think the the models are nice and clean and colorful and look good. yeah I think like In comparison to like Grim Fandango, which has these pre-renders that are really like detailed and gorgeous.
01:13:21
Speaker
Like these are really like wonderful. doesn't have that. The pre-renders in Escape from Monkey Island look kind of washed out in comparison.
01:13:33
Speaker
They do. They they lack... you know, this is what I'm saying. They lack personality. Like the whole thing is a game that's been all about personality, especially gosh, curse of monkey Island.
01:13:45
Speaker
We'll talk more about that next round, but yeah boy, that art has so much personality. yeah And then you go from that to something that is, inferior in pretty much every single way i don't know what case you make i mean i guess i think i'd say it's like monkey combat i don't think it's quite as bad as the reputation it's earned but it's still bad i mean still it is the classic adventure game sin of here's this elaborate logic puzzle this paper rock scissors kind of thing
01:14:16
Speaker
You'll figure it out in relatively short order, but we're still going to make you do it for another 45 minutes after you figure it out if you actually want to advance. i mean, at some level, i would argue maybe even insult sword fighting comes close to...
01:14:31
Speaker
wearing out its welcome and it's very very close yeah but at least it's funny at least it's breezy you can do it while half paying attention when you get to the later stages of it you're kind of over it oh man monkey combat uh again it's i think some people misremember it as being difficult or whatever to figure out it's not that it's just absolutely no fun and it's very close to the end of the game and it grinds the pacing it is so upsetting when you know that you're at like the end of the game and then you have like this long grinding puzzle like in space quest 5 when you're in that enormous maze at the end and it's just like you know you're at the end you know you're at the the final thing
01:15:19
Speaker
And then you have like this multi-level pain in the ass maze. yeah And it's just It's not even the worst maze. It's just like, this is the last thing I want to be doing yeah during like this huge build to the climax. It's like slam on the brakes.
01:15:32
Speaker
It's time to crawl around in, you know, the Jeffrey's tubes for a little while. All right. Next. but Okay. So for that one, folks, day of the tentacle, no surprise advances.
01:15:45
Speaker
Escape gets thrown into the dustbin of history. Here we are. Final matchup for the evening. We have a number six seed, I guess a number 11 seed. And Ben, I think this could be an interesting matchup. Okay.
01:15:59
Speaker
Okay. We've got number six, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis they game versus number 11, The Dig.
01:16:10
Speaker
All right. um I mean, I think this and this one's pretty easy for me, but also... um I have not played the dig.
01:16:22
Speaker
i' but i haven't finished the dig. I've played. I mean, here's the thing. I feel like out of some of these matchups, maybe along with Full Throttle versus Loom, I think this is the one that has a stronger chance than some of potentially alienating some listeners, which we're fine with.
01:16:39
Speaker
You know, go your own way. There are other adventure game podcasts out there. We're the adventure game podcast. Correct, correct. But there are ah there there is an adventure game podcast you could listen to instead.
01:16:50
Speaker
um There are people who love The Dig.
01:16:55
Speaker
There are few people who love the day, right? There are people who passionately love the day. The problem is those people are not the hosts of this podcast.
01:17:06
Speaker
They're not the host of this podcast. And also if they're saying it's better than fate of Atlantis, it's funny. like These two are, are probably also pretty closely matched in that they're both like kind of similar subject matter.
01:17:21
Speaker
Yeah. ah like there's Lost Civilizations. Yeah, Lost Civilization, Exploration. um They're not comedies. ah They are... um ah yeah, I mean, i don't know.
01:17:35
Speaker
Fae of Atlantis... i is a remarkable feat um because it gets the tone of an indiana jones right and it is a correct new story and um that is enormous yeah improves on last crusade and basically yeah every way it could did you know that the guy that worked that that designed um ah that designed Fae of Atlantis, Hal Barwood, ah like worked with Steven Spielberg?
01:18:10
Speaker
Like he wrote ah Starlight Express? No, I didn't. ah Yeah, like that was, I think that was part of his pedigree was it's like we got this guy from Hollywood and he worked with Steven Spielberg.
01:18:21
Speaker
Yeah. Or lay express, which I have not seen. And Fave and Lance is great. I mean, it's a fantastic game. We'll talk more about it again. I think I'm ready to say here again, you and I aren't digsmen necessarily.
01:18:35
Speaker
I think I'm willing to say this is for me and listeners. You're welcome ah to disagree at quest quest podcast at gmail.com. think this is an easy advance for Indiana Jones, the favorite last.
01:18:48
Speaker
Oh, wait, wait, not Starlight Express, the Sugar Land Express. Sorry. Oh, sugarland express sugarland express sorry well then i definitely knew that yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah sorry starlight yeah yeah yeah sugarland there's someone that was listening or that was like ben sugarland express sugarland express they had already composed an email to quest and gmail.com and we're getting ready hit send right with probably graceful But yeah, i mean, The Dig is ambitious. The Dig is a game with a troubled development. Like I said, kind of sounds like everyone at LucasArts and people who weren't at LucasArts all took a crack at trying to turn this into a viable game design.
01:19:34
Speaker
What we eventually get, you know, I think it was pretty well reviewed, but nobody necessarily saw it as one of LucasArts best works. It's ambitious. I don't know if it quite lives up to that ambition.
01:19:46
Speaker
Indiana Jones, the Fay of Atlantis is a delightful addition to the Indiana Jones saga. And honestly, that's something you can't say about multiple Indiana Jones films.
01:19:56
Speaker
So it's got that going for it. Or even games. ah Now, is that is that it? I gotta go to this dentist. My mouth is feeling extremely bare.
01:20:09
Speaker
I've got a naked mouth. The need for teeth. My mouth is so nude right now. Let me preview the matchups for next time. Let's see the matchups for next time.
01:20:23
Speaker
Okay, because I think next time things are going to get... a little spicy yeah okay our first match up for next week we're going to continue this next week and we're crown a winner grim fandango versus loom okay okay sounds pretty good sam and max hit the road versus monkey island two all right oh man are you ready for this sam max hit the road versus monkey island two is pretty tough all right what's that that's pretty got one tougher for you okay
01:20:56
Speaker
The secret of Monkey Island versus the curse of Monkey Island. This is going to be a fight. see I am anticipating this will be this will be difficult.
01:21:09
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. And then our final matchup next week for the second round will be Day of the Tentacle versus Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.
01:21:21
Speaker
All right. okay these are all winners at this point but only one will be crowned the ultimate victor yeah so we're gonna go through all of them we're gonna go semi to the finals uh uh those are going to be now i if you think that we got any of these wrong and if you're ah zach mccracken person You can send us an email at quest quest podcast at gmail.com.
01:21:50
Speaker
What's your bracket? Show us your bracket. That's right. We should have announced this so people could fill in the, you know, office pools and things like that. Fill in that term at bracket. You know, yeah we've all got April madness right now.
01:22:03
Speaker
Yeah. And we I've got the April madness. a And the summertime sadness. I've got that early this year. oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. ah All right.
01:22:14
Speaker
Well, yeah. i Well, thank you so much for ah listening to Quest Quest, the adventure game podcast. As said, you can send us an email ah questquest podcast at at gmail.com.
01:22:28
Speaker
Please rate and review five stars. Five stars. Five stars. I'm accepting two.
01:22:41
Speaker
five-star review i am accepting into ben's brain yeah ben tell them to also leave a comment yeah leave a comment on youtube if you're watching on youtube okay i'm accepting out of ben's brain okay
01:23:00
Speaker
um and uh and be sure to join us next week uh when we discuss Starlight versus Sugarland, the ultimate express, the last express.