Game 29: Leisure Suit Larry III - Final Rating

Well this should be interesting! I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Leisure Suit Larry III, and am quite interested to see where it can place on the leaderboard. Can it surpass the original??? Before I begin, I just want to mention that I’m getting to the point where I’ve played a lot of Sierra adventure games, with quite a few of them being built with the SCI0 engine. For that reason, my final rating posts are becoming more like comparison discussions than individual game critiques. I think this is the fairest approach given how I apply the PISSED rating, but I apologise if it means I’m covering old ground regularly through these posts. Feedback is welcome as usual...

Puzzles and Solvability
There are actually a lot of puzzles to solve in Larry III and overall they have a pretty good balance. Apart from the one dead end that I’ll discuss soon, I rarely found myself stuck for very long, yet still feel like a had to use my brain to continually progress. In most cases discovering the solution to a puzzle would start a run, where one solution led to another, which I found pretty satisfying. The main aim of the game (to sleep with women) was really quite straight forward however, with the one exception being Suzi Cheatem, who I never managed to bed (I now know if I’d visited her in my showroom dance attire I would have had success). I don’t recall any parser issues getting in the way of finding solutions, apart from scene with the marijuana rope, which is a vast improvement over the very buggy Larry 2.

Turns out Suzi loves cross dressing and our doggie style action was only interrupted by constant phonecalls.

On the negative side, there was a slight overdependence on the manual, but that’s partially forgivable since the tourist manual itself is really quite humorous. It certainly wasn’t as bad as Police Quest 1 was in that department. There was a fairly lengthy maze, although I think one is acceptable in this type of game, especially when it’s so easily mappable. There was also a solution to the maze hidden in the manual, so it’s hard to get too riled up about it. The climactic cage escape puzzle and the dead end associated with it must be punished though, and not just because I got caught out by it. Requiring a magic marker to escape a bamboo cage is stupid in itself, but making that marker so difficult to find and unobtainable once you’ve entered the bamboo forest is pretty unforgivable. Making an otherwise invisible item only appear at a certain point in the game, despite having tried to pick it up earlier, is also just plain harsh! The game could have a got a 6 for this category, but I’m going with a 5.
Rating: 5

I actually noticed the "magic marker" way back at the start, but wasn't able to pick it up. It's only luck that I tried again later as Patti.

Interface and Inventory
Once again, when it comes to Sierra games, we’re really talking about parser and movement when we’re discussing interface. In the case of Larry III, the parser is pretty solid; with only a couple of times in the whole game where I just struggled to find the right term (the harness puzzle is probably the best example). This is in stark contrast to Larry 2, which had numerous enjoyment affecting parser bugs, so a big improvement there. Movement is also well handled throughout. I can’t recall an instance where I couldn’t get where I wanted to due to environmental obstacles (unlike Codename: ICEMAN), and there was only one mini-game (the river) which had very simplistic yet effective controls. Inventory-wise, there’s not much to say. It’s the same as the other SCI0 games, with the exception of Police Quest 2 (which had no functional inventory). Others have mentioned timing issues in the game and a bug that makes completing the gym section all but impossible, but I faced none of those so can’t remove points. All up, I think this category is handled about as well as can be expected for a standard parser based adventure game, but then that doesn't deserve more than a 6.
Rating: 6

This is the only part of the game where I felt I was at war with the parser

Story and Setting
As much as I enjoyed the game overall, there’s no doubt that Larry III rehashes both story and setting from the previous two games in the series. The story, for the most part, is identical to Larry 1 (middle-aged, overweight, balding man goes in search of sexual encounters) and it’s set on the same island where the action took place in Larry 2. This of course is a harsh and simplistic view though, as there’s a lot more going on than that. The fact is that repeating the story of the first game is the best thing Al could have done, and reinvigorated the series after a disappointing sequel. Chasing women and trying to have sex with them is what Leisure Suit Larry is all about, which is why the first sequel’s shift away from that (to a sort of James Bond parody) wasn’t entirely successful. It was just as entertaining the second time around too, with different women in different situations with different results. Secondly, the island has had a major overhaul, and is identical in name alone. The story does go off the rails at the end, but I refuse to deduct a point for that as it was by far the most entertaining part of the game!
Rating: 5

The game doesn't try to hide the fact that it's repeating the same formula as Larry I

Sound and Graphics
While the sound and music in Larry III was produced by different people than the second game in the series, I can’t say I noticed much of a difference. Many of the tunes were simply reproduced, and none of the original material stood out in any way. I do like the way a short snippet of the main theme plays every time points are gained though. I was going to say that the graphics were fairly similar too, but a quick comparison shows that things have come quite a way in just a year. While the backdrops are only slightly improved, the characters are much sharper, and the animation far smoother too. Most importantly, given what the game is about, the close-ups of the women are very impressive given the restrictions of the technology available. As much as it makes me feel creepy just thinking it, Tawni and Suzi in particular look very fine indeed! The improvements in graphics quality is merely what you’d expect for a game released a year later though, and I can’t possibly rate Larry III as high as Indy or Zak, or even Hero’s Quest, so I’m going with a 6.
Rating: 6

Suzi Cheatem: The one that got away!

Environment and Atmosphere
As mentioned earlier, Nontoonyt may be the same island that Larry ended up on in Larry 2, but it’s a very different place for Larry III. There aren’t a lot of locations to visit, and a few of them are only available to visit at certain times. It’s all well represented though, bringing across the required touristy feel throughout. The atmosphere can only be described as light-hearted fun, as pretty much nothing in the game can be taken overly seriously. Larry III pokes fun at everyone and everything, meaning the atmosphere remains consistent throughout, even after the player switches from Larry to Patti. I guess the real reason the game doesn’t shift in tone at this point is because it continues the ongoing (juvenile yet humorous) objectification of women (most puzzles involve Patti removing part of her clothing). Despite how positive all of this sounds, I am going to have to deduct a full point due to Dewey, Cheatem and Howe being so ridiculously difficult to find. I only found it because I knew it must exist somewhere as it was mentioned in the manual, but never would have stumbled upon it otherwise.
Rating: 6

It's difficult to get emotionally involved in Larry III, but then that's not really the point!

Dialogue and Acting
Just as was the case with the first two Larry releases, this is the category where the game really deserves praise. I laughed a lot during those first two games, and almost as much during Space Quest I & II, but none of them had me chuckling as much as Larry III did. It’s consistently hilarious, and that’s testament not only to Al Lowe’s sense of humour, but also his writing abilities. I’m noticing a huge increase in the amount of dialogue that appears in the games created in 1989 over previous years, which could be attributed to the amount of disk space available, but may also have something to do with Sierra trying to satisfy a more demanding audience than was first anticipated. One thing I have noticed after playing the very polished Hero’s Quest is that other designers hadn’t yet made any attempt to make the actual dialogue boxes less obtrusive (they often cover the action entirely in Larry III yet rarely did in Hero's Quest), but that’s really nitpicking. In the end I’ve decided that while Larry III is the funniest game I’ve played so far, it doesn’t advance the genre and therefore gets the same 6 I gave Larry 2.
Rating: 6

Al nevers misses an opportunity to have a shot at someone. Even the player isn't safe from his taunts!

5 + 6 + 5 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 34 divided by 60 = 56.67, which is 57 when rounded up. That’s exactly what I gave the first Leisure Suit Larry game! It’s also the same score I gave Police Quest 2, which is another game that surprised me after a shaky start. So how do I feel about that? I feel like I’ve adequately punished the game for its flaws, and as much as enjoyed Larry III more than the original, I have to give that game credit for breaking new ground. Well that settles it! 57 it is!

So who wins Tex Murphy 1 & 2? Let’s have a look...we have a tie again! archivis and paulfranzen both correctly chose 57, which means I’m going to have to split them somehow. Right, I’ve decided to use the random number generator at www.random.org to pick a winner. I’m about to generate a number and if it’s an odd number, archivis gets the prize. If it’s even, paulfranzen will take the goods on his very first attempt. The number is...(drum roll)...23! Congratulations archivis!!! Send me an email to theadventuregamer@gmail.com and I’ll reply with your Steam code.

70 CAPs for Laukku
• What’s Your Story Award – 20 CAPs – For answering the What’s Your Story questionnaire
• Future Wars Award – 20 CAPs – For correctly guessing my Future Wars riddle
• Hacker Award – 10 CAPs – For telling me how to avoid the adult verification questionnaire
• Rex Nebula Award – 10 CAPs – For guessing the correct game for my Rex Nebular riddle, but not the correct character
• Graphics Nerd Award – 10 CAPs – For describing how to configure the game for the best graphics

70 CAPs for Ilmari
• Sanitarium Award – 20 CAPs – For finding a game that fit my Sanitarium riddle
• Leisure Suit Award – 10 CAPs – For explaining why I couldn’t pick anything up at the beginning of the game
• Skin Cancer Award – 10 CAPs – For informing me of the over-tanning death
• Nectarine Award – 10 CAPs – Nectarines!
• Oral Sex Award – 10 CAPs – Is this really possible in the game?
• Minor Hacker Award – 5 CAPs – For directing me to the answers to the adult verification questionnaire
• Trickster Correction Award – 5 CAPs – For correcting me regarding alternate solutions in Larry 2

61 CAPs for Canageek
• Sanitarium Award – 20 CAPs – For finding a game that fit my Sanitarium riddle
• Compliment Award – 10 CAPs – For making numerous positive comments that make me happy
• Genre Support Award – 10 CAPs – For commenting about a big new adventure game sale on GOG
• Genre Support Award – 5 CAPs – For commenting about a new adventure game sale on Steam
• Genre Support Award – 5 CAPs – For commenting about a new adventure game sale on GOG
• Genre Support Award – 5 CAPs – For commenting about a new adventure game sale on GOG
• Ask Me Anything Award – 5 CAPs – For commenting about an Ask Me Anything with the creator of Dreamfall
• Matt Barton Award – 1 CAP – Instead of the 100 million CAPs that he deserves

60 CAPs for Aperama
• Rox Nebular Award – 30 CAPs – For guessing the correct game for my Rex Nebular riddle.
• What’s Your Story Award – 20 CAPs – For answering the What’s Your Story questionnaire
• Suzi Scoring Award – 10 CAPs – For informing me of how I could have scored with Suzi Cheatem

50 CAPs for Dave_the_Turnip
• Resident Artist Award – 50 CAPs – For producing 5 of the 10 PISSED rating drawings

25 CAPs for TBD
• Sanitarium Award – 25 CAPs – For solving my Sanitarium riddle

20 CAPs for Fenrus
• Pessimistic Award – 10 CAPs - For correctly predicting that I would fail to score with Suzi
• Nectarine Award – 10 CAPs – Nectarines!

20 CAPs for Lars-Erik
• Sponsor Award - 20 CAPs - For sponsoring the blog with free games

15 CAPs for Alex
• Expletive Award – 10 CAPs – For informing me of the expletive phrase section in the game
• Over-Analysis Appreciation Award – 5 CAPs – For over-analysing the ethnic group comedy section

10 CAPs for archivis
• Clairvoyant Award - 10 CAPs - For predicting the score I would give the game

10 CAPs for Jarikith
• Kickstarter Award – 10 CAPs – For announcing a new adventure game on Kickstarter

10 CAPs for paulfranzen
• Clairvoyant Award - 10 CAPs - For predicting the score I would give the game

10 CAPs for Deimar
• PointClicking Award – 10 CAPs – For informing us of pointclicking.com

10 CAPs for Charles
• Galaxy Quest Award – 10 CAPs – For picking up on my Galaxy Quest reference

5 CAPs for Cush1978
• History Lesson Award – 5 CAPs – For telling me who Spiro Agnew is

5 CAPs for Novacek
• History Lesson Award – 5 CAPs – For explaining why Spiro Agnew really resigned

5 CAPs for Johnny Donut
• Over-Analysis Appreciation Award – 5 CAPs – For over-analysing the ethnic group comedy section

5 CAPs for Draconius
• Tumbleweed Award – 5 CAPs – Tumbleweed

Game 29: Leisure Suit Larry III - Won!

Passionate Patti Journal Entry 2: “I found Larry! It’s just as well I did too, as he’d been captured by cannibal lesbians and was about to cooked and eaten. It looked like we would both go out the same way too if I hadn’t found the magic marker in the piano bar. It turned out to be magic indeed, and I was able to literally draw a door which we bother escaped through. We then found ourselves in a studio owned by a company called Sierra and eventually came across a woman named Roberta Williams. She was making a video game called King’s Quest IV, and once she realised how exciting Larry and my adventures had been, agreed to give us our own shack in the mountains where the two of us can spend our time making love and computer games. Surely life can't get better than that!”

Onwards we shall go, despite my reservations.

Having decided to continue playing, despite the unsettling feeling that I was already dead ended, I persisted with Patti’s search for the missing Larry. I’d just managed to cross the ravine with the rope I made out of marijuana, so the first thing I tried doing was picking it back up. I wasn’t able to, so all that was left to do was take the exit to the northwest, with nothing in my possession other than my panties, my bra, my dress, two coconuts, and the key to my apartment. The next screen looked fairly innocuous at first, but as soon as I walked along the path a little way, I was confronted by a very angry feral pig! It launched into the air and landed right on top of me, killing me in the process. It had come at me so fast that I’d not had any chance to try anything at all, so I restored with a significant amount of trepidation.

Such is life!

After restoring, I approached the upper part of the screen much more slowly this time. The pig appeared again, but as long as I didn’t get too close to it, would remain at a distance. This allowed me to try things with the few items I had, and as soon as I looked at my inventory, I knew what to do. I took off my bra (5 points) and put the two coconuts into it (45 points). I then threw them at the pig, and watched with great satisfaction as he flew into the stream and away. (100 points) So far so good! Perhaps I was imagining the dead end feeling I was having?! Leaving that screen behind, I found myself standing at the edge of the stream, which was more like a roaring river at this point. The description stated that it was “too deep to wade across and too rapid to swim”, meaning I was going to have to find a clever way of negotiating it.

Surely I could just lie on my back and float to safety!

I could see a log in the river, which I waded out to and hopped on top of. Unfortunately it was firmly attached to the riverbed, meaning I just sat there on the log doing nothing. I hopped back off and typed “pull log” (10 points) to get it going, then jumped back on. (20 points) What happened next shouldn’t have surprised me, but I was a little unprepared for it nonetheless. An overhead view showed the river running around a jungle landmass, and my makeshift boat was a tiny dot at the southern end of it. More importantly, there was a small secondary window towards the centre of the screen that showed Patti on the log, and obstacles were coming at her thick and fast! As I mentioned, I wasn’t quite prepared for it, and the game speed was clearly set too high to avoid contact with the debris floating in the water. I lasted only a few seconds before my mini game was cut short, and subsequently my game.

Even Patti's worst nightmate came down that river...children!

As with the majority of Sierra arcade mini games, playing this one at Normal speed may be possible, but it’s certainly difficult, and would require stacks of saves and restores to get through. I chose to make things a bit easier, and set my game at one of the slower speeds (not the slowest though) and set out to get all the way through the river. I’m happy to admit that I had to restore about fifteen times, and saved my progress a handful of times on the way, but eventually I made it! (150 points) Just when I thought the worst was over and that I was now drifting out of harm’s way, a net came out of nowhere and entrapped me! Two women then emerged from the river and carried my ensnared body out. I was informed that these women were part of Nontoonyt’s famous tribe of Amazonian women lesbian cannibal natives (the woman that stole Larry’s wife was from the very same tribe)!

10 CAPs to the first person that names the reference here.

After a quick look at the rather primitive looking people going about their daily lives, I was shown Patti locked up in a cage. She wasn’t alone though! Larry was in there with her!!! Relieved conversation and kissing ensued, after which Larry asked Patti to explain why she mentioned the name Arnold after they’d finished making love the other night. She did so, and both of them promised to be with each other for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, that didn’t appear to be a very long time at all, as the cage was dangling above a cauldron of boiling liquid. These cannibal lesbians intended to eat our protagonists! I still had control of Patti, and it was left to me to figure out how to escape from our predicament. The cage was made of bamboo and leather, and the only door was securely tied shut. Any thoughts of taking my time to take everything in were squashed when a witchdoctor appeared out of nowhere and the cage lowered into the boiling liquid at her gesture.

Well at least we went out together!

Before I restored, I took note of the game over screen, which said “Mark my words, Patti: sometimes you must fight magic with magic!” What did that mean? I didn’t have anything in my possession that might allow me to do anything magical. Was I supposed to assume that Patti and Larry’s love was “magical” and so the key was to somehow utilise that? I tried getting the couple to...um...do things, but soon gave up on that way of thinking. I used everything I had on everything I could think of, which wasn’t particularly easy given the limited time I had before death arrived. Eventually I was forced to accept that I was in all likelihood dead ended. It seemed very harsh that the game would let me take this path and get all the way to the final puzzle having missed something hours back, but at this stage I had to assume that whatever I needed was to be found in Chip ‘n’ Dales. I restored back to first leaving the casino as Patty, and tried to figure out how I was going to get my hands on $42.50.

Patti Potter and the Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals

I looked at my map, and there were really only two places that stood out as possibilities. I went for the first, which was the park with the TV in it. I couldn’t think of any way that I might be able to get some money there, but since it was the only place where nothing significant had happened in the game so far, thought it was worth a shot. It wasn’t! Not only did nothing happen there, but I wasn’t even able to read the newspaper. I therefore went for the second location, which was the bar where Larry originally picked up Patti. I figured perhaps I could get paid for my work at the piano. It seemed a long shot, but I was out of ideas. I was disappointed that the bar was empty on my arrival, but decided to hunt around anyway. I looked at the board out the front, and was surprised that there was a “marker pen lying in the tray of the announcement board”. I picked it up, but couldn’t think how that would help me down the track. That is, until I looked at it! (75 points)

Except when she's already seen what happens later in the game and then restored

This wasn’t any old marker pen. This was a “magic” marker pen! Since I needed magic to get out of the cage at the end of the game, this would have to be the solution! I could have just headed straight for the bamboo forest and forgotten all about the money and Chip ‘n’ Dales, but it was still bugging me. I walked over to the piano and looked at the cup. “Let’s see; did we have a good night tonight? Oh, well; a few bucks is better than nothing. Where you’re going you’re not going to need a lot of money anyway.” (25 points) Tips! Of course! I could have sworn that I’d looked at both the cup and the board earlier in the game when playing as Larry, but then now I was playing as Patti. I guess I learnt a valuable lesson with both of these puzzles, which is not to assume that what occurs for one character will always be the same for another. Not that many games have multiple characters to play.

Finally I can get into this strip joint!!

I still didn’t know how much money I’d actually collected, but assumed it would cover the entrance fee at Chip ‘n’ Dales. Once I handed it to the maitre‘d, I found out that It added up to $43.00, which was just 50 cents more than was required. (43 points) I sat down at a table inside and watched the club’s owner, Dale, strut his stuff on stage. It seemed Al Lowe found yet another way to present what could have been an excessively smutty scene (Dale strips down to a G string and thrusts about) in a humorous and inoffensive way. Watching from above, the player can’t see all that much, but the shadow behind Dale is suggestive enough. When Dale took off his clothes, he threw them onto the table in front of Patti, so I looked at them. “Perhaps Dale finds you interesting. Maybe his clothes are a clue...” I tried picking them up, but couldn’t. I tried searching through them, but couldn’t do that either. The only other thing I could think to do was return the favour, so I removed my panties and threw them at him. Success! (100 points)

This guy must be seriously hot to get Patti's panties in her current state!

Once the show was over, Dale approached me and asked if it was I “that threw that lovely little pair of panties at me”. He then told me I looked lonely and asked if I would like a little company. How could I refuse a man that looked like a young Tom Jones?! (1 point) Since the game was giving me hints that Dale might be able to help me find Larry, I asked him about the forest. “Patti, all I can say is: when all else fails, read your manual!” A couple of readers had already suggested to me that the manual hinted as to how to navigate the forest, but since I’d already mapped it out, didn’t really require the assistance. I tried asking him various other things, but the only success I had was when I typed “help”, to which he responded “Patti, I’m no pathfinder, but I know this: the answer doesn’t lie with anyone here in this village!” So it seemed to me that the only purpose of Dale, and therefore Chip ‘n’ Dales, was to tell the player to look through the manual to figure out how to navigate the maze.

Oh...perhaps the game designers wanted to believe this guy would pull the chicks!

OK, so I had what I needed to finish the game (at least I hoped I did). I then spent the next twelve minutes getting back to the cage in the cannibal village, which included using my map to get through the maze, climbing over the ravine, getting past the angry pig and negotiating the river arcade mini-game. The only thing I did differently this time was to follow Ilmari’s suggestion and smoke the marijuana I collected on the cliff ledge. This led to a very funny scene where Patti prepares the pot, uses some rocks to light it up and then smoked it. This causes her to literally float in the air and to “see visions of Daventry!” Thankfully I saved my game just prior to smoking the joint as the effect ran out just as I was floating above the ravine itself, causing me to fall to my death. If this was Al’s way of saying “drugs are bad for you kids”, I’m not sure it got the message across, but it sure was funny!

Thanks for the tip Ilmari.

As soon as Patti and Larry were reunited in the cage, I typed in “use marker”. “Larry, I don’t know if this will work or not, but the only thing I can think of is this Magic marking pen I picked up back at the lounge. Let me see if I can draw us a way out of this mess!” Patti then drew a door, opened it and crawled through it! (500 points) Larry then followed, and I watched as they both fell through the darkness reminiscent of Alice going through the rabbit hole to Wonderland. This all seemed very silly to me of course and I had to wonder whether Al Lowe had perhaps smoked a bit too much pot himself during the making of this game. I should have trusted him more though, as the proceeding scenes are right up there with the highlights of my blogging experience so far. Patti and Larry didn’t just appear back in the piano bar or in Patti’s penthouse suite. No...they reappeared on the set of the Police Quest movie!

Well really? Were they on drugs?

It’s going to be difficult for me to explain just how cool this ending is. There are simply too many fantastic Sierra game references to mention, and it shows that Al and his helpers knew exactly how their audience thinks and what they would find amusing. After the movie director calls in the music (the exact music that was playing in the car sequences in Police Quest), lights and camera, two men walk beneath a large table with a model of Lytton. They both have sticks in their hands with police cars on the end, which they move around the streets while the camera above pans across to capture the action. I seriously laughed out loud while this was going on, despite my wife and daughter being asleep close by. While everything appeared to be going well with the filming, suddenly Patti came falling from out of nowhere and crashed through the table onto the floor beneath.

This was adventure game gold!

Larry then fell onto the table, where he lurched about Godzilla style, crashing through buildings and into the electricity wires, before finally falling on top of Patti. Larry was obviously concerned for Patti’s well-being, but she eventually got up, complaining that she was going to end up flat-chested if she continued to do her own stunts. They both walked out from beneath the table, and I was given back control of Patti. I took the only path available to us and reappeared in a storage area containing numerous Sierra adventure game memorabilia. There were targets from Police Quest, the title screen from King’s Quest, the monk’s outfit worn by the Murry brothers in Manhunter, the car that was used to “film” the Leisure Suit Larry 1 driving scenes, among other treasures. There didn’t appear to be any purpose to any of it other than enjoyment, so we walked through to the next screen.

Larry II attempted this when Larry died, but this takes it to a whole new level.

The next screen was also extremely familiar, being the set used for the opening of Space Quest II. There was some sort of anti-gravity machine built around a large magnet that caused both Patti and Larry to float around the screen. There was a large plug in the floor next to it, and as soon as Patti started floating towards it, the solution became obvious. Once she was upside down just above it, I typed “take out plug”, which of course resulted in both of us crashing to the floor with our asses literally in the air. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better / funnier, the next scene had me in stitches! Patti and Larry walked in on Roberta Williams filming the whale scene from King’s Quest IV! Long time readers will know that I despised everything to do with this puzzle (I rated it most unsolvable of 1988), so watching Al take to the piss out of it gave me great delight!

By this stage I'd fully forgiven Al for such a bizarre puzzle solution

After directing her crew around, Roberta calls action and Rosella begins the torturous task of climbing the whale’s tongue. “Now, Rosella, what do you say we take it again from the top, and this time really show me some emotion!” Just as when I played the game, as much as she tried, Rosella continuously failed to reach the top and fell down. An increasingly frustrated Roberta demanded she try harder until the pig tailed blonde blew up. “This just isn’t right! It’s too humid in here. This wool skirt keeps soaking up water. That goo you spread on the tongue is too slippery. You haven’t given me my motivation for this scene yet...” Roberta’s cranky response was interrupted when both women noticed Larry and Patti on the set, with the director demanded to know who the intruders were.

It's great to know that others realised how irritating this whole section of King's Quest IV really was.

Patti introduced herself and Larry to Roberta and proclaimed how much of an honor it was to finally meet her “software hero”. Patti then described everything that had occurred, which didn’t impress Roberta all that much. Larry’s story did however and she asked him whether he felt his experiences could form the basis of an adventure game. “Of course, it would, Bert! If you could just set us up with a little place to work (up to my reasonable standards, of course) we would write a whole series of adventure games for you!” This of course is exactly what Roberta did, and the Leisure Suit Larry adventure game series was born! Larry III ends with our happy couple lounging around in a “simple programmer’s shack in the mountains”, with Larry spending his time telling the world his life story through adventure games. I imagine all of this would have be extremely confusing for players that have litte to no history with previous Sierra games, but surely the inexperienced would have been a minority. As for me, I loved it, and have an even greater respect for Mr Lowe because of it! I’ll leave the rest of my ramblings for the Final Rating post.

What? I could explore the island in the showgirl costume? Why would I do that?

Session Time: 2 hours 00 minutes

Total Time: 8 hours 30 minutes

Game 29: Leisure Suit Larry III - Weaving the Dope Rope

Passionate Patti Journal Entry 1: “How could this be? As soon as I find the man I’ve always dreamed of, he disappears from my life as quickly as he came into it! Oh Larry…we made such beautiful love! Where have you gone? I am determined to find him, if for no other reason than to get an explanation for his disappearance. I think I saw him enter the bamboo trees through my telescope, so that’s where I've headed. It was torturously hot in there, but I eventually found my way through the maze and have since spent my time using my ever-decreasing clothes as tools to scale cliffs and cross large fissures. I can’t begin to imagine how Larry got through all these obstacles, but I can’t see where else he might have gone. I really hope I find him soon!”

Finally I get to experience what it's like to be inside Patti. Hey, get your mind out of the gutter!

I survived my boy’s weekend, but only just! I’m seriously getting too old for two days of drinking games and next to no sleep! One could say that I’m too old for video games too, but everyone here knows that’s not true, particularly when the game in question is part of the Leisure Suit Larry series. So where was I before my brief hiatus? Oh that’s right, I’d just switched from Larry (after he ran off into the bamboo forest, discouraged with life in general) to Patti, and was about to set off in Pursuit of his Pulsating Pectorals. This was like starting a new game entirely in one way, as I had a single goal and no inventory, but then I knew all the locations and characters prior to beginning. I set out to find Larry, but did what any good adventurer would do to begin with. I searched my starting room!

I really want this apartment!

The bottle that previously contained wine was still sitting next to the bed, so I picked that up. (25 points) At this stage I was still walking around wrapped only in bed sheets, so getting dressed also seemed a good idea. Looking at the clothes revealed a bra, some panties, some pantyhose, and a dress, so I put them all on in that order. (70 points) I tried interacting with the piano but got nowhere, and I’d already used the bed for its obvious two purposes, leaving nothing to do but leave. My destination seemed pretty obvious, being the bamboo forest that I’d previously come across as Larry, but hadn’t been allowed to enter. That’s where I saw Larry go through the telescope. However, since Chip ‘n’ Dales was on the way to that screen, I thought I would see if it was now finally open and ready for business.

All dressed up for a stroll through the jungle!

Once I was standing outside Chip ‘n’ Dales, it was obvious that something had changed. There was a doorman standing outside the adult entertainment club that hadn’t been there before. I wandered over and tried to get in. “Hello, sir. Could you give me some information about the show inside?” The maître ‘d responded with “Tonight’s show is offered at the special low rate of only $25.00. Of course, with tax, that’ll come to $42.95 exactly.” A quick look at my inventory suggested I didn’t have any money on me, but I tried to pay up anyway. The game informed me that I was broke, so I began thinking about how I might get some cash. I’d seen nowhere in the casino where you could actually gamble, and nowhere else on the map jumped out as a possibility. I decided to head off to the bamboo forest, assuming that things would work themselves out eventually. I made my way over to the cliff face with the bamboo next to it.

Isn't that the same Maitre 'd that works at the casino showroom? He sure gets around!

As Larry, I had not been able to enter the bamboo, but as Patti, I was able to walk up to and then into it. It was immediately apparent that this was going to be a maze, so I opened up Excel in preparation. It was a good thing I did too, as this maze twists and turns all over the place, quickly making me lose my bearings. It also quickly became apparent that I wasn’t going to get very far through the maze without some form of hydration. Patti went from walking upright, to lurching forward with arms drooping in exhaustion, to crawling on all fours, to finally lying face down in the dirt…dead! I’d managed to map a fair bit of the maze before that happened, but it seemed obvious that I was going to need to fill the wine bottle with water before entering the maze. I just needed to figure out where to do that. My first thought was the fountain!

I kinda thought having Patti on all fours would be more exciting, and less game ending.

I restored my game to just after leaving the hotel and went straight to the fountain. I was actually pretty surprised when I wasn’t able to fill the bottle with water there. “This is not the correct place to do that.” Why not?! So where else might I get some fresh water? I remembered seeing a little fountain in Native Inc. that was filled with previously bottled water, but this thought was squashed when I was told that there was no reason for Patti to enter that building. I then had a “eureka” moment! The sink at the cabana! I rushed over there and successfully filled the bottle with water, wondering how I hadn’t thought of that earlier. (37 points) Once I had it, I went straight back to the maze and continued mapping, drinking the water just before losing consciousness. (20 points) I was able to map a fair portion before finally succumbing, but was forced to restore a couple of times before I could finally get through it all. Strangely, and perhaps testament to the maze designers, the moment I completed the maze was the same moment I finished mapping it. (100 points)

If a woman makes it through a maze in the jungle but no-one was there to see it...

Once out of the maze, I found myself next to a stream. I drank the water, assuming I would still be parched after my recent ordeal. (42 points) The screen to the north showed that the stream ran off a cliff into a waterfall. I didn’t seem to be able to pick anything up in this screen, or the one just to the east, so started experimenting with the cliff. Either swimming or walking off resulted in a screen showing my body plummeting to the earth far below, so that wasn’t the answer. I had very little in my inventory, but the pantyhose caught my eye. Could I use them to lower myself down off the cliff? It turned out the answer was yes! I took the pantyhose off (20 points), tied them to a rock next to cliff (40 points), and then stepped off. Unfortunately, the pantyhose broke when I was only halfway down the cliff face, but it was apparently far enough down that the fall wasn’t fatal. It sure looked like it would have been though!

Taking the palm tree into consideration, I estimate the fall would have been close to 30 metres!

When I finally peeled myself off the ground, I was standing on a “small ledge projecting from the face of the cliff.” I had to laugh at the sight of two round holes in the ground where Patti had made an imprint! There was no easy way off the ledge, but the two palm trees looked like they might hold the key. I climbed one all the way to the top, where I was able to collect two coconuts, which the game described as “a pair of large brown hairy nuts.” (25 points) At this point I have to admit that I was a little flummoxed. I couldn’t do anything else with the trees, nor could I open the coconuts or interact with them in any other way. There was a rock in the distance that seemed a prime candidate for throwing some sort of rope over, but I didn’t have one. It was then that I typed “look” again and noticed that the description made a point of mentioning “plants with unusually shaped leaves”. I typed “get leaves”, and watched as Patti collected numerous marijuana leaves! (10 points)

It's all so juvenile, so why do I find it so funny!

I had no idea whether making a rope out of marijuana leaves is something people do in their spare time, but I thought I would give it a go. “Cleverly remembering that an original, legal use of marijuana was in the manufacture of hemp rope, you take the marijuana you harvested and carefully weave it into a rope.” Awesome! (100 points) I walked over to the cliff and typed “throw rope at rock”. After a couple of lame attempts, Patti finally lassoed the hemp rope around the rock on the other side and pulled it tight. (40 points) I then tied the rope to the tree and typed “climb on rope”. Patti then wrapped her “long, delicate fingers” and her “long, delicate legs” around the rope and moved out over the canyon. The screen then shifted to a sideways view, making the distance between the two cliff-faces appear a lot bigger! Patti had only made it about a fifth of the way across when I was informed that “your hands rapidly tire from holding your body’s full weight on the rope.” Shortly afterwards Patti simply couldn’t hold on any longer and fell to her death. Bummer!

"...an experience not wholly unfamilar to you!" (This is a running joke in the game while controlling Patti)

Thankfully the game gave me a bit of a hint as to what I was supposed to do to avoid death by excessive gravity. The game over message was “If only you had some way to secure yourself to the rope. Your hands have certain skills, but rope grasping is not one of them!” OK, so I all I needed to do was to use something to connect my body to the rope to take some of the load. Once again the only items I had at my disposal were pieces of clothing, but the bra did seem like a good option. I tried using the bra on the rope, and while it appeared as though it was working, Patti still fell to her death. In fact, no matter what I typed, if it included the words “on rope”, Patti would make her way out and fall, which was pretty annoying. I have to admit that it took me half an hour to get past this puzzle, and I tried all sorts of ridiculous things involving phrases that I absolutely knew wouldn’t work. It’s funny what you start trying when you get desperate. Was I missing an item altogether? No! I just wasn’t using official climbing terminology!

I seem to be losing clothing on every screen!

All I had to do was type “make harness”, after which Patti ripped off eight inches from the hem of her dress and made a harness out of it. (50 points) It seems damn obvious in hindsight, but I just hadn’t been able to come up with the word when I needed it and didn’t believe that the game would require such specific terminology. Most puzzles are solved by using things on things, so “make harness” is not one of the first things that popped into my head. Anyway, having the harness allowed me to climb all the way across the makeshift rope to the other side. Interestingly, at this point I received a message saying “You did it, Patti! But, now you wonder if there was something you forgot before you left.” Hmmm…does that mean I did leave something behind? I couldn’t think of anywhere since entering the bamboo maze that I hadn’t thoroughly explored! Suddenly I realised that it was looking more and more unlikely that I would return and therefore be able to enter Chip ‘n’ Dales. Was the end of the game rapidly approaching and I’d dead ended myself by not finding the $42.50 I needed to enter?

A hint that not all is well...or an off-hand comment with no real consequence? Time will tell!

I’ve decided to continue on for two main reasons. Firstly, I’m not entirely sure if I am dead ended. Perhaps whatever happens in Chip ‘n’ Dales is solely for points, or perhaps I can go back there later somehow. Secondly, if I have indeed missed a critical item, I should get a pretty good idea about what it is when the time comes that I need it. So am I still enjoying the game? Yes, despite the trouble I had with the harness puzzle and the fairly lengthy maze. As I’ve said a few times previously, I don’t mind mazes, as long as they are mappable and there aren’t too many of them. If there’s only one significant maze in a game, then I can forgive that, especially as the RPGer in me does enjoy getting the trusty spreadsheet out every now and then. I’m keen to finish the game in the next day or so and tie things up by the end of the week, so hopefully my dead end fears don’t cause me too much trouble.

I'm totally committed now! Well, not really...theres always restore!

Session Time: 2 hours 00 minutes

Total Time: 6 hours 30 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: I've written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I've not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!

Game 29: Leisure Suit Larry III - Reality Bites

Larry Laffer Journal Entry 5: “I should have known better! Am I really that stupid that I thought the gorgeous Patti would really be in love with me?! She showed so much interest, especially after I spent so long working on my new body, and we spent such an amazing time together in her penthouse suite. As usual though, it all turned out to be a lie, and she was thinking of another man the whole time. I don’t know who this Arnold is, but I hope he realises how lucky he is. Oh well...I’ve had it with women! It always ends in pain and embarrassment! I’m going to spend some time away from the world. I don’t even care where I end up. As long as it’s far from women...particularly Patti!!!”

Ditto Bambi...ditto!

One of the biggest risks I face while writing this blog is making a fool of myself in front of hundreds of readers. Thankfully, this doesn’t bother me too much. In fact, I think all adventure gamers have moments where they miss something right in front of their face or make a really bad decision, so if anything I’d like to think these instances are bonding experiences rather than distancing ones. I actually had the choice of whether or not to tell you all about my locker 69 troubles, since I’d already figured out where I’d gone wrong before I wrote the post, but not to do so would have felt very disingenuous. The fact is that I was completely on track while trying to find the combination to the locker. I just screwed up! The business names on the back of Suzi Cheatem’s Fat City membership card did indeed represent page numbers in the tourist manual. I was correct that Bippi’s Island Liquors was 10 and Dewey, Cheatem & Howe was 16, but I’d failed to see that there was an ad for Nontoonyt Community Centre on page 9. This was a big facepalm moment for me, as I’d wasted quite a bit of time wandering around and trying random combinations based on ridiculous theories.

About bloody time too!

So the code to the locker ended up being 10-9-16, and inside was a “photo of a scantily-clad Tom Selleck, some spray deodorant, and a set of woman’s sweats.” (100 points) I put on the sweats in preparation to enter the gym (2 points) and made my way over to the second exit from the locker room. I’d inadvertently found out while researching Larry III that there was a pretty significant technical issue that arises when trying to get through the gym scene on modern computers. The problem occurs because Al Lowe wrote what he thought was a pretty clever piece of code that makes the number of repetitions Larry needs to do on each exercise directly proportional to the clock frequency of the computer’s processor. On a 16 MHz 386, this resulted in 21 repetitions on each of the four exercises. On a Pentium 233, each exercise had to be repeated 510 times! On my Alienware laptop…well, someone else would have to do the math. I really hoped that playing the game in SCUMMVM was going to avoid the problem.

A few months in the gym and these women won't be able to refuse me

It did! I hopped onto the pull up equipment and used the arrow keys to lift and lower myself. Interestingly I was able to view myself doing this on the equipment at normal size, as well as a close up version of the action in the upper screen.  I repeated the movement until I received a message saying “Congratulations! You’ve done 12 pull ups.” I then completed 12 bench presses, 12 bar pulls and 12 leg raises, after which I was told “Boy, oh boy! This exercise stuff really works! Why, you look and feel like a new man!” Before my very eyes my body began to bulge all over the place, at first making me appear like some mutant hunchback, before eventually covering my frame with huge muscles. Just a few of these exercises and I could now compete with Mr Universe! Of course this new physique was too good to be true and I soon sprang a leak and shrank back to a more normal, albeit toned, size. (100 points)

Or maybe just a few minutes!!!

“Oh, well. Who would want to be that pumped up anyway? At least you’re no longer overweight; why, just take a look at yourself. That gut of yours is gone and just look at those muscles! What a hunk!!” I stood Larry sideways and admired his new fitter physique. Surely Bambi and Patti wouldn’t be able to resist me now! I walked back to the locker, took off the sweats, covered myself with a towel, and then made my way to the showers. I’d expected a similar scene to the Police Quest showers, where any sign of nudity was hidden by walls. I should have known better! The shower screen was viewed from below the tiles, meaning I was forced to look up at Larry’s butt crack and...other bits...while moving him into the necessary parts of the room. I turned on the water and then used the soap on a rope that I’d been carrying around for a while. I’d noticed earlier that the soap had a circular hole in the centre, so it wasn’t surprising when Larry washed himself very well indeed. “Some parts longer than others!” (60 points)

Aaaaggghhhh my eyes!!!!!!

All cleaned up, I made my way back to the locker and used the deodorant (49 points), and then put my leisure suit back on. Since Bambi was just next door, I decided she would be my next conquest. This time when I offered to help her make her video, Larry said: “Bambi! I’ve got it! I know just the angle that will sell that video of yours! Sex!” (99 points) Bambi thought this was a brilliant idea, realising that nothing would sell aerobics like sex. I asked her whether she could make sex positions interesting enough for the video, after which she showed me numerous raunchy moves onstage. By this stage Bambi was getting really horny and demanded we stop rehearsing and get down to “show time”! She led me out of the studio and into the tanning room. (3 points) Apparently the tanning bed had been broken since the late eighties (wasn’t this game made in the late eighties?), so no-one would disturb us there.

You really don't need to convince me Bambi. Can we go now!

I moved over to the tanning bed to “audition” for a role in Bambi’s video. We got straight to it, with Larry once again keeping his suit on for all the action. A few thrusts in and something rather dramatic occurred. The lid of the tanning machine came crashing down on us and began heating up! After a few humorous innuendos from both Bambi and Larry, such as “I can’t get it up!” and “that’s your problem Larry, I’d just like to raise the lid of this tanning booth!”, Bambi slipped out of the machine and left me to ponder why it’s so difficult to get an even tan! So once again Larry’s seemingly successful attempts at getting laid had been thwarted by unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances. The quest for satisfaction would have to continue, and I had a pretty good feeling that my quest would be fulfilled just around the corner. It was time to go see Patti again!

Final Destination 3: The Adventure Game

With my new physique, I gave Patti a freshly made lei once again. This time she responded with “Oh Larry, thank you! You’re such a charmer! I’m ready. What do you want to do?” (100 points) All I could think to say was “ask about room”, to which she said “Yes, Larry, I do live in the penthouse here.” (100 points) After further questioning she said “It’s getting late, I’m ready to quit for the night, and you’re looking better all the time. Here, Larry, take the key to my suite. I’ll slip out the back way and use the service elevator. Just wait a few minutes before you come upstairs, as I’d like to slip into something more comfortable…” (25 points)  Patti then made a real point of reminding me that she refuses “to make love to a man without something to drink first!” I didn’t have any form of alcohol in my inventory, and couldn’t think of anywhere specific that I might be able to get some. Time to put the thinking cap on!

Quite possibly the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me!

The first thing I tried to do, simply because it was on the way out of the casino, was to ask the obnoxious man at the desk in the hotel about wine. I thought maybe I could order some from the hotel. He wasn’t able to assist, so I looked at my map to see if any locations popped out as potentials. I’d not yet been able to enter Chip ‘n’ Dales. Perhaps it would now be open and I could find some wine in there? Well the answer was no, as it was still locked with a “CLOSED” sign on the door. My next thought was that there might have been a bottle on one of the tables in The Comedy Hut, and since it was very close to Chip ‘n’ Dales, I wandered over to have a look. Yes, there was a bottle right in the middle of the table I sat at originally! I walked over to it and picked it up! Excellent! (15 points)

Well it was a lot easier to get than in Indiana Jones

Before I took the wine back to Patti, I wondered what else I might have missed in The Comedy Hut. I really hadn’t given it much attention during my mapping period of the game, but I’d not had any need to come back until now. Ever since my first visit, I’d wondered what would happen if I managed to let Paul Paul go through his entire comedy routine. I decided to find out, but after a few minutes of jokes, I started to wonder whether it would ever end. For the first time in Larry III, I turned to game speed up to max and watched as he flew through joke after joke after joke at high speed. Finally, he stopped, and said “and now, because you’ve been so patient, I’d like to do my famous impersonation of a duck!” He then did the best impersonation of a duck imaginable (i.e. he changed into a duck) for a short amount of time and then disappeared off stage. (100 points)

Now that's what I call talent!

I then turned my attention to the rest of the room, looking at each of the tables and people in turn. When I came to the lower left table, I received the following description. “Sitting at this table are Bill Skirvin and Al Lowe, deep in an esoteric discussion about 3-D animated graphic adventure game design.” I was then given an opportunity to say something, so I simply typed “Hi Al”. Al then remarked: “Hey! I’ve got an idea. How about if you and I sit in a comedy club and we make Larry walk up to us and say something like, “Hi Al”” Bill responded with ““Hi Al”, eh? Are you crazy? No way. That’s so lame! Larry would never say that!” Al seemed to agree: “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. This is not a good idea. Let’s get out of here. “Hi Al” Really!!” The two game designers then disappeared! (5 points) I’m fairly used to Sierra games referencing each other and even the designers behind them, but this…this was awesome! Very funny indeed!

These guys really had fun making these games, which I can't imagine happens all that often these days.

Right, it was time to go to Patti’s penthouse! I hopped into the hotel lift that had appeared unusable to me previously. I’d been dreading this part due to my failed attempts at choosing a floor, but typing “go to penthouse” was all I needed to do now that I had the key that Patti gave me. (4 points) When the lift finally reached the top floor, I stepped out into Patti’s amazing pad, taking in her reclining form on the circular bed. I typed “pour wine” and Larry placed the bottle on the silver tray alongside two empty glasses. (500 points!) I then witnessed a very long sequence that held much banter between the two characters, with Larry seductively sliding onto the bed and pouring the wine. The animation is rather smooth and impressive during this scene, suggesting great effort was made to give this climactic scene extra resonance. We drank…and then…

When!

…we made love! Unlike the other humorous sex scenes in the game, this one wasn’t actually shown on screen. After moving in for some kissing action, the screen went black, and the only sign that anything was going on at all was numerous “ooohhhsss” and “aaaahhhhs” and lines such as “Oh yes, THAT! Yes, THAT! Please, more of that!!” Eventually I was shown a screen of Patti in apparent ecstasy, with two temperature gauges representing the lovers peaking climaxes. With a final united “YES!”, Larry and Patti collapsed to the bed and panted, both of them pondering how the other was the lover they’d always wanted. While all this romantic stuff was going on, Al still managed to get a few cracking lines in. Larry thinking: “The woman of my dreams…” Patti thinking: “The man of my dreams…” Both thinking: “I’m in love!” “Larry thinking: There’ll never be another woman for me!” Patti thinking: “How I wish I still smoked!” That one had me laughing out loud!

Or hot for that matter! Do you have air con?!

However, as is usually the case, not everything goes Larry’s way! As Patti is drifting off to sleep, she thinks about her life, promising herself that “Tomorrow I must call my boy friend and tell him I’m breaking off our relationship for good. Sorry, Arnold.” She then murmured Arnolds name as she lost consciousness, just loud enough for Larry to hear. This causes Larry to doubt everything that has just happened, believing that Patti has been thinking of another man all along. He gets up, gets dressed, and departs the room, “going where no woman will ever frustrate me again!” When Patti wakes up, she realises Larry has gone, and after finding him entering the bamboo forest through her telescope, decides to set off in pursuit. This means that I now take control of Patti and go in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals! I look forward to seeing how this plays out.

I knew it! That bamboo section wasn't for nothing!

Session Time: 1 hours 00 minutes

Total Time: 4 hours 30 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: I've written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I've not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!