PC Games, Adventure Games and a History.

Liber8or

I was recently reading a thread on the apparent death of PC Games, when a Boards.ie member referred to where games began and how we were entertained for hours. I thought I would post a link to an article about this very subject.

http://www.glimpsedog.com/content/129-rise-fall-adventure-games.html

What do you all think? Have games become dumbed down or simply transformed into a different medium for entertainment that appeals to a greater audience?

Nehaxak

I think the gaming industry have just become more reliant (and spent too much time) on snazzy graphics rather than spending more time on improving and innovating gameplay itself.

It's why, to me anyway, Sensible World of Soccer (SWOS) will always be the best football game I've ever played - even when compared to the latest Fifa/PES offerings. None of them have even come close to beating SWOS for gameplay.

It's also why I think World of Warcraft has been so successful and continues to be, it's not for it's graphics (which in fairness are lacking in this day and age) but for it's gameplay, which has been second to none and no other MMO has ever even come close to competing with it since it's release.

The gaming industry also needs to fully embrace and enable easy access for the gamer modding community if their games are to become lifetime successes. Another plus for Wow in some way due to the ability of anyone to create addons (you can go much further but only so much is permitted by Blizzard).

I think game companies are looking these days more towards games as movie releases, with an expected income/profit and they're happy with that, anything else is a bonus but if not then so what as they've made their initial investment back and then some. That's business I suppose but they could have that and a lot more if they weren't so lazy and apathetic toward the gamers themselves.

oceanclub

Liber8or wrote: »

I was recently reading a thread on the apparent death of PC Games, when a Boards.ie member referred to where games began and how we were entertained for hours. I thought I would post a link to an article about this very subject.

http://www.glimpsedog.com/content/129-rise-fall-adventure-games.html

Well, first of all, the classical adventure game isn't dead. Sam and Max, Wallace & Gromit, and various other companies prove there's still a market out there.

Adventure games also evolved as well. I'm sure there are people who argued that when adventures moved from text parsers to icon-based systems, that the developers had "sold out". Adventures games could be used to tell a story - but now so can RPGs, without having to grapple with often frustratingly obtuse puzzles.

And there's a huge amount of nostalgia involved in adventure gaming, too. I've played them occasionally since the days of the Spectrum (28 years for you whippersnapper), and honestly, many, even those considered classics, just *whisper* weren't very good. Grappling endlessly with a text parser to get the game to do something that you know is correct just wasn't that much fun.

EDIT: Oh, and "hunt the pixel" games. Some people still enjoy these but then some people like nipple clamps.

Reading sites like justadventure.com, where any old rubbish gets a high score, is like looking in the minds of those Japanese soldiers still fighting the war 40 years later.

There's a very entertaining thread here where John Walker of PC Gamer UK (username = botherer) and Richard Cobbett ("Richard") argue this point with a bunch of such gamers after the mag awarded a pretty bad game 14%:

http://www.adventuregamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7922

The quoted article by the OP acknowledges that adventure games are still being created and that the genre has also evolved into other areas, but then says this:

"All I am saying is: return to the grass roots of computer game development and bring back a genre which proved successful and popular. Or at least attempt to stop producing bullets for brains type games which feel derivative and insulting. "

This is just nostalgic nonsense. Adventure games development didn't dwindle because developers were being contrary - it dwindled because people weren't buying them. It's like arguing that restaurants should serve up cabbage soup.


P.

It's great, though, that it's even easier now to find some old classic adventure games and play them on modern machines (e.g. the LucasArts game pack and Monkey Island remakes on Steam).

People often think that modern adventure games are dumbed down when compared to the glory days of point 'n' click but I don't think so...it's just easier to find out solutions at the slightest hurdle, thanks to the Internet.

When point and click was at its height, early '90s, it was the pinnacle of the genre and everyone loved it because it seemed so fresh. When you play the same game now, I certainly don't feel the same rush and excitement now, especially hunting down mouse-click hot spots and obtuse solutions to puzzles...it's bloody frustrating now (I'm older now, of course).

The latest Sam and Max, the Monkey Island remakes now have hint systems which alleviate the frustration and make the game more accessible.
Does this make it more "dumbed down"?
I don't think so, as, like anything, you'll only ruin the experience by relying on it (what's the point of playing an adventure game, only to have a walkthrough printed out beside you?) but it's nice to have in cases of extreme frustration.

jaykhunter

Hey, what Broken Sword is this



is it any good?

Liber8or

jaykhunter wrote: »

Hey, what Broken Sword is this



is it any good?

Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars. Its the first one. Excellent adventure. Funny and genuinely well designed!

jaykhunter

thanks! Will it play on a piece of crap PC bought in 2002?

Liber8or

jaykhunter wrote: »

thanks! Will it play on a piece of crap PC bought in 2002?

Too right it will! Seriously man, you will love it!

jaykhunter

Liber8or wrote: »

Too right it will! Seriously man, you will love it!

damn, it's not out on Steam

oceanclub

It's on GOG.com though I believe.

EDIT: Weirdly enough, only the second 2: http://www.gog.com/en/search/sort/search/broken%20sword

Great game - I only had to look at the walkthrough once (and that was for, yes, one of those hateful "hunt the pixel" things.)

P.

jaykhunter

oceanclub wrote: »

It's on GOG.com though I believe.

EDIT: Weirdly enough, only the second 2: http://www.gog.com/en/search/sort/search/broken%20sword

Great game - I only had to look at the walkthrough once (and that was for, yes, one of those hateful "hunt the pixel" things.)

P.

Cheers! ya same as Steam; only the 2nd & 3rd ones. I love the art style. Something about hand-drawn I really love. Like Discworld 2.

Lu Tze

jaykhunter wrote: »

Hey, what Broken Sword is this



is it any good?

I think i got stuck at a ?goat? in this game? Don't remember finishing it anyway.

No internet in the house back then anyways! Went back to play it again a couple of years back and discovered the first disc was missing!

stephenmarr

that bloody 'GOAT' wrecked my head. Thanks for bringing back all the nightmares

humanji

jaykhunter wrote: »

Cheers! ya same as Steam; only the 2nd & 3rd ones. I love the art style. Something about hand-drawn I really love. Like Discworld 2.

The directors cut of Broken Sword 1 came out last year, so I don't think you'll find it anywhere cheap to download (and you never get these things in shops). You can get it on eBay from the UK.

Monotype

Liber8or wrote: »

I was recently reading a thread on the apparent death of PC Games, when a Boards.ie member referred to where games began and how we were entertained for hours. I thought I would post a link to an article about this very subject.

http://www.glimpsedog.com/content/129-rise-fall-adventure-games.html

What do you all think? Have games become dumbed down or simply transformed into a different medium for entertainment that appeals to a greater audience?

Far Cry was an engine passed off as a game, nothing more.

I think the adventure type has for the most part been absorbed into the RPGs. The approach is a little different as I feel the RPGs often see to revolve around people rather than objects - for example in an adventure game you pick up this, you get pick up that, you turn this other thing, then you can combine your two things and use it in this other place. The RPGs seem to be more like that someone asks you to get X, when you get there Y happens and when you get back you get a reward, or they try to kill you.

There are without a doubt many more crutches in today's games with quest makers, clear maps etc., -very good for someone like me who could go around in circles ten times before recognising the scenery, but they could cut back to give the adventurous feel especially with walkthroughs available at the few clicks of a button.

The adventure games are still around if you look hard enough. I recently played through Penumbra Overture. Very close in many ways to the early adventure.

It would be interesting to see some more adventure games. But I don't think today's market is as patient and doesn't see the value in a quest where you don't get to chop someone up.