New monkey!
I love that point-and-click adventure games are having comeback. Ron Gilbert is releasing a new Monkey Island later on this year; new games inspired by those from 80s and 90s are being regularly released. More, younger, people are now getting to experience the unique graphics, sounds, humour, plot, and pace of these wonderful games.
I’ve played most of the classics when they came out. (I credit my decent English vocabulary to Sierra’s quests that needed text input and, for me, a dictionary.) During the pandemic lockdown I’ve re-played King’s Quests, Kyrandias, Loom, Monkey Islands, Hero’s Quests — erm, QFG — and others. I see a lot of people are streaming their plays of these old games now.
But if it’s not a replay of a contemporary playthrough, it’s not the same, is it? An integral part of the experience were excruciatingly long floppy-grinding sessions whilst praying for good sectors; missing disks; waiting for the cracked version; looking for hints on BBSs; lost/no saves; computer time-share; and, being ‘stuck’ for days until one of your friends figures how to combine items just right.
You can get an XT with an EGA and run the games now, but you cannot recreate the rest. Particularly, the newness of what’s happening in front of your eyes and the waves entering your ears. The adventure game, at the time, was the genre that pushed the limited resources available to output jaw-dropping graphics and sound. Those ‘wow’ moments cannot be re-created.
I cherish the experience of those original playthroughs. Good memories.