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Posted: Feb 23 2010 01:36 pm

Floppy's were worse for swapping and speed.

King's Quest V 256 color version came on 15 3.5" disks!

But, that's okay, you didn't have to play the game from the disks. You had options:

Installing the game was less intuitive than other Sierra releases due to the variety of options supported. An addendum to the manual was included which attempted to explain all of the installation options. The game could be played entirely from hard disk, half from hard drive and half on floppy, or entirely on floppy if two drives were present. If you were playing with one 3.5" drive and one 5.25" drive, installation began on either 5.25" disk #6 or 3.5" disk #10. All other combinations began installation on 5.25" disk #5 or 3.5" disk #9. (confused yet? King's Quest V may also be the only Sierra title where installation doesn't begin with either disk #1 or the Startup disk.) Probably in the interest of simplicity, media cost, and sanity most (if not all) of Sierra's later games shipped with just one set of disks per package eliminating the ability to play entirely from floppy but simplifying installation.

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

I remember playing either "Corncob 3D" or "Jetfighter II" directly from a Floppy Disk. "Moraff's World" was another one, as well as all of the "Hugo's House of Horror's" games.

Posted: Feb 23 2010 07:28 pm

Milhouse wrote:

Also, Sam 'n Max Hit the Road was one of the first CD-ROM's we bought...

Hell yeah, Sam and Max was the very first "talky" game we got and it even said as much on the box. My dad and I also loved Full Throttle and just about every other LucasArts adventure game (except Monkey Island which he never bought for some reason).

As for floppys, I remember vividly playing KQ1 and Leisure Suit Larry 1 from 3.5" disks (no installing in those days) and having to swap them from time to time. I'll never forget the loading sound they made, and to this day that sound is extremely therapeutic for me.

Posted: Feb 23 2010 09:18 pm

I've always wanted to try Leisure Suit Larry...

Posted: Feb 23 2010 09:25 pm

First one I ever played was The 7th Guest, and let me tell you it was a bitch to get running even back then, we were on the phone with customer service for t least 2 hours.

Posted: Feb 24 2010 07:27 am

Berserk007 wrote:

First one I ever played was The 7th Guest, and let me tell you it was a bitch to get running even back then, we were on the phone with customer service for t least 2 hours.

People's patience was awesome back in those days. Computers were still so primitive that people expected them to not work, especially for gaming. So when there was a problem, everyone had buckets of patience and were willing to go through ridiculous installation/boot disk procedures just to get the game to run. And when the game finally worked, you cheered and were so happy, as if it were some gift from the heavens. You were never disgruntled that you'd just spent 2 hours making it work.

Nowadays if something doesn't work right out of the box or takes a minute too long to install, people get pissed. Just another way to show how ubiquitus and how quickly computing has grown in the last 15 years.

Posted: Feb 24 2010 07:34 am

It was the same way with cartridge-based systems. You'd sit there and blow into your NES and then blow into your game to try and make them work. And you'd do it over and over for 20 minutes until it finally did, just so you could play your favorite game.

Posted: Feb 24 2010 08:39 am

...and after some time your cart corroded. I used Q-tips, myself.

EDIT: Gah, clicked Post by accident. Sorry.

I remember how people used all kinds of tricks and solutions if your CDs got scratched - the one that I remember most vividly was my dad cleaning out our CDs with toothpaste. The trick still works, I used it like three or four months ago to repair my OSX DVD.

Or how everyone said you weren't supposed to leave a CD inside a computer after you turn it on or else it wouldn't boot. Ah, obsolete BIOS settings, how I love thee.

Posted: Feb 26 2010 03:17 pm

The best early CD games were Snatcher and Ys Book I & II.

Posted: Feb 27 2010 12:31 am

I've never been able to get Sam & Max to play sound, not on old computers and not on new ones. I don't even know what they sounded like. Sad

Posted: Feb 27 2010 12:40 am

Blackout wrote:

I've never been able to get Sam & Max to play sound, not on old computers and not on new ones. I don't even know what they sounded like. Sad

Are you using SCUMMVM?

http://www.scummvm.org/

I have never had a problem with any LA game using that.

Posted: Feb 28 2010 03:26 am

I remember a game called "Zork: Grand Inquisitor" that came with the first computer we ever bought. It was a point a click game that we played the hell out of. I think it was after PS1 though.

Posted: Feb 28 2010 11:25 am

jackfrost wrote:

Blackout wrote:

I've never been able to get Sam & Max to play sound, not on old computers and not on new ones. I don't even know what they sounded like. Sad

Are you using SCUMMVM?

http://www.scummvm.org/

I have never had a problem with any LA game using that.

No, direct install, Ima have to try that, thanks! Smile

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

Yeah I played through Sam and Max and Scumm and never had a problem, it works well for SO many good adventure games of my youth.

Joined: Mar 01 2010 Posts: 126

Milhouse wrote:

Yeah, I think the big thing was to watch the videos on "Encarta." Pretty sad...it was a crappy CD encyclopedia. Before CD, I remember my dad getting mad at Sierra for putting Kings Quest 6 on something like 12 floppies and taking-up SO much space (a few MB).

Actually King's Quest 6 was 36 floppies. They later released it on CD with voice acting.

I remember Phantasmagoria was one of the first CD-based games that came out... on 7 CD's.