Series 3 v Series 4 Comparison - Level 1

[ross]

Now that we have seen series 3 and 4 repeated on Challenge why not try and compare the series.  

OK I will start off with Level 1 and will post levels 2 and 3 when I can be nothered to.  

In Series 3 (1989) in level 1 the rooms were

Dice Room
Dwarf Tunnels
Clue Rooms
Layer of the Dreaded Kar (the one with the snake in the hole)
Serpents tongue (and its stomach)
Ariadne's layer
Green cavern path
The ledge
Water Room
The Corridor of the Catacombs
The Scorpion
The Kitchen
The Corridor of the Catacombs 2
Bomb Room
The Vale of Vanburn
Fire Cave
Wellway

In Series 4 (1990) in level 1 the rooms were:

The Place of choice
Dooris - The weeping drawbridge
Eye Shield Room
Forest of Dun
Oakley (the clue room)
The Inn
Doom
The Remains of Dungarth
The Lizard
Moving Corridor
Wellways to Level 2

There are all the rooms.  The point is which series has the most difficult level 1.  And which was the best in terms of the quality of the rooms.  

[RoxxAatherton]

I think i prefer series 4, with the novelty of being able to go outside, which i think was pretty good quality considering the technology they had at the time and the arrival of the eye shild helped too so they could use real forest, etc.

As for difficulty, i guess series 3 was harder because most of series 4 level 1 was taken up by wondering around the forest...

[KaM]

Oh heck.. shoot me in advance. I might have to disagree. I'm going to be a horror - I think S3 is better than S4 in just about every respect.

To tune it down to specifics: level 1. Firstly, difficulty. As Ma'am Foxxy points out, S3 was far more difficult in the opening level. I thought level 1 in S4 barely posed any kind of challenge at all in comparison. A fair few teams died in Level 1 of S3, and quite simply because they weren't good enough (Douglas and Co, James and Co, Gavin and Co). Rooms like that with the narrow pathway that required a diagonal step to get across (James' death), the lair of Kar and especially the Cavern path gave the real need for directional dexterity. S4, as well as having few rooms of this sort, helped out more by perhaps an over-use of the eye-shield (when the teams wandered off at mad angles towards the exit, and suddenly found themselves heading straight for it).

I did like the dimension that S4's outside world brought - with the Forest of Dun and Dungarth. Yet I just wish it had incorporated more difficulty there. As it was, the Cavern path gave some sense of 'outside the dungeon', and the graphics within S3 were great as well.

One final thing is the quantity of rooms. S3 had a wider variation, especially in Level 1 - and so as well as the challenges it posed, there were differences. S4 got very repetitive, and, especially through level 1, while I was watching, sometimes found it all a bit of a chore, waiting until they hit challenges in level 2.

Sorry to ever disagree.  
KaM

[Dan]

Oh heck.. shoot me in advance. I might have to disagree. I'm going to be a horror - I think S3 is better than S4 in just about every respect.

I agree. ;-)

I much preferred the earlier series, where you were in peril right from the start, and it wasn't a given that you'd survive past level 1.  It made for much more compelling viewing in my opinion.  Back then you were /almost/ guaranteed a death an episode (and there are two deaths in one episode of series 1) unless a team was really good, and even then you didn't KNOW the team was going to survive, and that excitement and edge-of-seatness is just lost for me in series 4.

I can't remember enough of later series to know if they ever got this back, but I'm guessing from the number of teams being much lower in the later series than the first three that they didn't. :-(

[Purgatory]

does how that level 1 season 3 was much harder.
S4 was just to easy and u knew what room was next

[RoxxAatherton]

i dunno, there's just something about that inn in the forest in series 4 that i really liked, perhaps it's just my subconscious obsession with booze!

I do agree though that the bits walking through the forest, looking though the eye shield were a bit tedious after a while. The novelty definately started to wear off.

[Velda]

Well now I've seen Series 3 again for the first time in, ooh, just under 14 years, I have to say that I prefer it to Series 4. I love all the different rooms and they vary from quest to quest, unlike Series 4 which is very samey. Series 3 is harder too. I prefer the old skull ghosts to the newer ones in Series 4 - they make scarier noises I think. I still like S4 - hey, it's still Knightmare - but S3 beats it hands down.

[Malefact]

Series 3 is definitely more eye-catching than series 4 - lots of lovely colours. That may be why series 3 has been such a success on Challenge; people were flicking through the channels and saw all the nice colour and stayed to watch.

I like series 3 because of the nice graphics and the fact that each room posed a new problem. I like series 4 because of the way everything was interconnected. Don't forget that this was done in 1990. The Eye Shield sequences were a very clever idea. In that respect, I think series 4 is quite underrated.

Series 3 and series 4 both give an impression of scale that the other series did not. They both have a sort of 'deserted' feeling that made them both very eerie - it gave them a real undercurrent of menace, as if the dungeon were alive and watching back. Then again, this could just be me being paranoid.

[KaM]

I could never dislike anything about Knightmare. I do totally agree that S4 was beautifully crafted, and the eye-shield made for some brilliant sequences - I just simply think that the gameplay suffered relative to other series; particularly S3 (since they've appeared so close together on Challenge? to compare) because of this.

Only underrated to those fanatics who expect nothing but the very best, and scrutinise every second. Yes, the outside world in S4 is eerie.. it's definitely like one is being watched all the way - and anybody ready to attack at any given moment. And - it was the series which brought in the Corridor of Blades (which I'll save for when the good Mr. ross updates for LvLs 2 & 3); but just as a generalisation - there's still lots to take from all series of KM.      ~ KaM

[MoanaLiza]

I'd say s3 was definately harder as how many teams died in level 1 in s3 compared to s4 also how many teams made it to level 3 in series 4 compared to series 3. How many teams were close to winning in series 4? Helens team I say would definately have won had they used the right spell as they were so close! I Also believe Alistair's team would have probably won had they not have died in the Corridore of blades.

[Purgatory]

^ Well thats like saying So and so would have won if they didn't die, or they would have won if they used the right spell, took the right path, got the right question and didnt step over the edge, All of them had a very good chance of finishing the quest.

I hated the Dice room.  >:(

[RoxxAatherton]

I hated the Dice room.  >:(

Yes the dice room was aloada pants, and very tedious, it didn't help that Treguard had to keep saying the same thing to each team in turn something about 'this is a room of choice, blah,blah,blah...' no doubt someone more in the know will want to correct me there and post the exact words.

Perhaps after series 3 when nobody won, they didn't want new dungeoneers/advisors to get disheartened so they made the next series a bit easier, i wouldn't blame them.

[MoanaLiza]

^ Well thats like saying So and so would have won if they didn't die, or they would have won if they used the right spell, took the right path, got the right question and didnt step over the edge, All of them had a very good chance of finishing the quest.

But you have to admit that they were pretty close, I think closer than others especially Helen's team

[Purgatory]

Yeah i know what u ment.. but it sounded as if no one else had a chance.  After all they could have made any kind of mistake even if they did pass.  


But the Dice room was pointless. role a dice and take the right door and a door with an quest icon.. it just wasnt needed. Where in season 4 they had a choice and that there was always a little danger falling off the spin dizzy. The spin dizzy it self caused some amusement.  

But the fact that Season 4 not only have an easy 1st level the 3rd wasnt much different.. a couple of nasty looking rooms but over all it was very short, Season 3 level 3 was just much better, a lot longer to