The Sierra Background Art Tournament: Round 3

[Datadog]

We're coming over the hump, people! This round, we're seeing one tournament come to close! We're also seeing significantly less battles, so hopefully more people will start voting! As usual, feel free to post screen-caps if you've the time. Otherwise, just toss in your votes. And if you'd like to see more people participate, spread the word.

This round's battles are:

Best in AGI
1. Manhunter 2 vs. Leisure Suit Larry 1
2. Manhunter 1 vs. Gold Rush!

Best in SCI 16-Color
1. King's Quest 4 vs. King's Quest 1 Remake
2. The Colonel's Bequest vs. Space Quest 3

Best in VGA
1. King's Quest 5 vs. Freddy Pharkas
2. EcoQuest 1 vs. Space Quest 4
3. Gabriel Knight 1 vs. The Dagger of Amon Ra
4. King's Quest 6 vs. Quest for Glory 3

Best in Non-Realistic SVGA
Title Match: Leisure Suit Larry 7 vs. King's Quest 7

Best in Photorealistic SVGA
1. Shivers vs. Rama
2. Quest for Glory 5 vs. Gabriel Knight 2

And, of course, this round can't begin without the obligatory Hi-Res Adventure screen-cap. What have you got for us today, "Time Zone"?



RIDE BRONTOSAURUS.

[Collector]

4. King's Quest 4 vs. Quest for Glory 3? KQ4 is not VGA and is already listed in 1. King's Quest 4 vs. King's Quest 1 Remake for EGA. Did you mean KQ6?

[Datadog]

Yes. Yes I did. Fixed. Thanks for the catch.

NOW the voting may begin!

[AndreaDraco]

Best in AGI
1. Leisure Suit Larry 1
2. Gold Rush!

Best in SCI 16-Color
1. King's Quest 4
2. Space Quest 3

Best in VGA
1. Freddy Pharkas
2. Space Quest 4
3. Gabriel Knight 1
4. King's Quest 6

Best in Non-Realistic SVGA
Title Match: King's Quest 7

Best in Photorealistic SVGA
1. Rama
2. Gabriel Knight 2

[Tawmis]

Best in AGI
1. Leisure Suit Larry 1
- Leisure Suit Larry because of the women.

2. Gold Rush!
- Nothing is going to beat this one, I think, in this department.

Best in SCI 16-Color
1. King's Quest 4
- King's Quest 4 to me seemed more alive with the backgrounds (like the dwarf's tree)

2. The Colonel's Bequest
- Holy. Now this kills me. Both are so good. But Colonel's BeQuest.

Best in VGA
1. King's Quest 5
- King's Quest 5. As much as Cedric bothers me, the backgrounds were amazing.

2. Space Quest 4
- Space Quest 4. Hands down.

3. Gabriel Knight 1
- GK1, because the backgrounds are so dead on, having been in New Orleans to see them in real life.

4. King's Quest 6
- KQ6. Easily. And probably the over all winner for this section when it comes down to it.

Best in Non-Realistic SVGA
Title Match: Leisure Suit Larry 7
- LSL7, because the animation seemed more cartoon where as KQ7 seemed stiff in comparison (ironic comparing it to LSL and calling it stiff)

Best in Photorealistic SVGA
1. Shivers
- Shivers.

2. Gabriel Knight 2
- GK2 easily.

[JDHJANUS]

I think I may end up going against the grain on some of these...

1. Manhunter 2. The Manhunter games had incredibly detailed backgrounds, with unusual colors that pushed the limits to what you could do with AGI. The real locations they're based on are all incredibly input into the game, with very specific details that could easily have been overlooked.

2. Manhunter 1, for the reasons above.

3. KQ1 Remake. KQ4 is by far a better game, but KQ1 Remake has much more colorful backgrounds (plus SCI-0 had been around a bit longer, so it was more familiar of a system by that point.)

4. The Colonel's Bequest. Every detail put into the graphics of that game was incredible, and I still am awestruck with the level of detail each screen has. It definitely adds to the spooky ambiance of the game.

5. KQ5. Freddy Pharkas is a fun game, but KQ5 has outstanding visuals, with environments from all over the globe!

6. This one is pretty tough...they both have a lot of cool backgrounds. I think I'm going to choose SQ4, though, simply because it has a much wider variety of backgrounds.

7. GK1. No contest. I love LB2, but GK1 has MUCH better visuals in every category.

8. KQ6. There's a reason why it's so many people's favorite Sierra game...QFG3's backgrounds are good, but it gets lost between the amazing backgrounds of 2&4.

KQ7, again, because of the wide variety of environments that're in the game. Now if it were Torin's Passage vs. KQ7, TP would win hands down.

Shivers. The museum is so whacky and disturbed, with each exhibit giving its own breath of life into an otherwise dead place...definitely way cooler than RAMA.

GK2. The background detail is impeccable, although I will point out that GK2 has the realistic FMV going for it. It might have been more fair to compare GK3 to QFG5 (which GK3 would still win).

These are just my perspectives based in backgrounds alone. If we were doing overall game, some of my choices would be way different.

Talk to you later!!

JDHJANUS
Josh

[BBP]

AGI:
1 Kills me but I could never vote against Larry when he's opposed to a game I don't care about. LSL1.
2 Gold Rush! Love nature and 19th century Brooklyn.

SCI 16Color:
1 KQ4, voting against remakes
2 Colonel's Bequest has a more interesting setup than scifi.

VGA
1 KQ5, FP is a bit monotonous
2 EQ1, nature
3 GK1, Hartridge's junk room and the church and the hounfours beats the giant Tutanchamon head
4 Tough call, tough call... I'll vote with the majority for KQ6.

NR SVGA
The many sight gags of LSL7 beat the pink trees of KQ7. Go Larry!

PR SVGA
1 Shivers, for the galaxy and the underground lake and it should win because it beat my favouritests game ever.
2 Neuschwanstein for the win! GK2.

[Rudy]

Best in AGI
That's a toss, but I'll go for Larry 1.
Gold Rush!, especially the Brooklyn scenery

Best in SCI 16-Color
King's Quest 4, particularly love the exterior of the dwarf house and the island of Genesta.
The Colonel's Bequest. Space Quest 3 is also good but doesn't capture the atmosphere as much.

Best in VGA
King's Quest 5, because each scene is beautiful and different, from deserts and snowy mountains to forests and oceans.
EcoQuest 1, love the under-water scenery
Gabriel Knight 1.
King's Quest 6, because I haven't played QfG3 yet. Shoot me now (no, wait, please don't, lol)

Best in Non-Realistic SVGA
Title Match: Leisure Suit Larry 7, because of the introduction of the "jiggle effect", lol. Oh wait, it's about backgrounds... Yeah, still LSL7

Best in Photorealistic SVGA
1. Shivers vs. Rama: this is tough, but I'll go for Shivers for the spooky atmosphere it sublimely creates and the wider diversity.
2. Quest for Glory 5 vs. Gabriel Knight 2: these are hard to compare since GK2 was based on actual photographs. So I'll pick the one that took more creativity: QfG5

[El Ravager]

Best in AGI
1. Manhunter 2
2. Gold Rush!

Best in SCI 16-Color
1. King's Quest 4
2. Space Quest 3. Tough, since LB1 had extremely good background art. But in the final analysis, I really appreciated the variety of environments in SP3's backgrounds, so it gets the vote.

Best in VGA
1. King's Quest 5
2. Space Quest 4
3. Gabriel Knight 1
4. King's Quest 6

Best in Non-Realistic SVGA
King's Quest 7

Best in Photorealistic SVGA
1. Rama
2. Quest for Glory 5

[Collector]

These are just my perspectives based in backgrounds alone. If we were doing overall game, some of my choices would be way different.

I think some may have fallen victim to their bias for certain games. I, too would have different choices if I we were voting on overall games.

Best in AGI
1. Leisure Suit Larry 1 Gritty reality vs gritty fantasy. Reality wins, whether we want it to or not.
2. Gold Rush! - I'll go for the wide ranging world creeated by the epic that is Gold Rush!

Best in SCI 16-Color
1. King's Quest 1 Remake - KQ4 may have been first, but there is something that has always drawn me to the KQ1SCI art.
2. The Colonel's Bequest - Still one of my favorites because of the atmosphere it creates. The art is a large factor in that.

Best in VGA
1. King's Quest 5 - KQ5 screams VGA!
2. Space Quest 4 - Hard one, but I'll go with SQ4 because of its many styles.
3. Gabriel Knight 1 - Makes better use of the background to further the needs of the game.
4. King's Quest 6 - Again the rich story telling of the game is only enhanced by the graphics.

Best in Non-Realistic SVGA
Title Match: King's Quest 7 - This in spite of the fact that I would have preferred an art style in keeping with KQ5 and 6 for the 7th game.

Best in Photorealistic SVGA
1. Shivers - Nothing more than personal preferrence.
2. Quest for Glory 5 - GK2 might have fared better if FMV had not arrived with the limitations of the era, i.e. low resoution/high compression with a lossy format.

[stuntology]

I need to play timezone sometime...

AGI
1. Manhunter 2. I really like LSL's backgrounds, but from what I've seen, Manhunter 2 almost looks on the level of the early SCI games.

2. Gold Rush! The world was really immersive: it felt like you were in the era. I particularly love how the buildings were drawn.

SCI
1. King's Quest 1. Everything from the grass to the trees feels more detailed than in KQ4. Even though KQ4 had better locations, I feel that the KQ1 remake got much more out of each screen than KQ4 did.

2. The Colonel's Bequest. A tough choice, but this beats SQ3 due to it probably being one of the most atmospheric games on this list. Also, it seems like everyone's posting outdoor pics for this game, so I'll do an indoor one.

VGA
1. King's Quest 5. Basically for what I said before, for the huge variety in locations.

2. Ecoquest 1. A really tough one, and I haven't even played Ecoquest. SQ4's backgrounds are great, and convey the dystopian SQ12 really well. The humorous throwback to SQ1 was a great addition to the art as well. However, Ecoquest's screens, from what I've seen, are nothing short of beautiful.

3. Gabriel Knight 1. I haven't played either yet, but I like what I've seen of GK's more.

4. King's Quest 6. QfG3 had great art, but KQ6, like KQ5, wins for many different locations.

Cartoon SVGA

Leisure suit Larry 7. The backgrounds in that game felt way more vibrant and jam-packed than what I've seen in KQ7.

Realistic SVGA

1. Can't really judge the games that I know nothing about.

2. Finally one where I have a good idea of the 2 games involved! It's also a tough one, because they are so different in art style. I'm going to go with Quest for Glory 5, though, because the art was 'created' rather than photographed.

[Datadog]

Whoo! Good to see the voters back in force!

Best in AGI
1. Manhunter 2 - Once again, the cinematic lighting win this round for MH2.


2. Gold Rush! - And once again, I love the historical design, the architectural details, and the cut-aways.


Best in SCI 16-Color
1. King's Quest 4 - Nothing against KQ1, but I felt the backgrounds here created more memorable locations.


2. Space Quest 3 - And again, I feel SQ3's art really created the world of Space Quest in size and scope.


Best in VGA
1. King's Quest 5 - They created this fancy VGA technology and came out swinging.


2. Space Quest 4 - I'd love to give to EQ1, but seeing them side by side... gotta go with SQ4.


3. Gabriel Knight 1 - I cave. While GK seems to have a lot of flat condensed backgrounds, LB2 has too many scenes where the ceiling is just a black void. An artistic choice, I'm sure, but seeing them side by side weens me over to GK because it has nicer ceilings.


4. King's Quest 6 - No question.


Best in Non-Realistic SVGA
Title Match: Leisure Suit Larry 7 - For the sheer amount of imagination that went into creating these rooms. They turned a cruise ship into a more fantastic fantasy world than KQ7's own fantasy world.


Best in Photorealistic SVGA
1. Shivers - These sets are consistently creepy.


2. Gabriel Knight 2 - For me, this is how GK1 should have been designed. For me, it's not a question of photos vs. 3D, but overall composition. This one is wide open, well-lit (photoshopped) and creates very memorable backdrops.

[Datadog]

Will be updating this in a day or so. Get your votes in!

[Tawmis]

Will be updating this in a day or so. Get your votes in!

My votes are in. Man. This is about to get seriously rough.

[Datadog]

THE RESULTS ARE IN

Best in AGI
1. Leisure Suit Larry 1
2. Gold Rush!

Best in SCI 16-Color
1. King's Quest 4
2. The Colonel's Bequest

Best in VGA
1. King's Quest 5
2. Space Quest 4
3. Gabriel Knight 1
4. King's Quest 6

Best in Photorealistic SVGA
1. Shivers
2. Gabriel Knight 2

And the first victor so far is *drumroll*...

Best in Non-Realistic/Hand-Drawn/Cartoony/Whatever-You-Want-to-Call-It SVGA


Next round starts after I get something to eat!