This thread is dedicated to a dying genre, which is today in much the same position CRPGs were about 5 years ago. Worse, actually, since there's no sign of a possible revival of the genre, especially since multiplayer in adventure games is not really a feasible option, and a game without multiplayer capabilities released today is almost doomed to be a financial failure.

So share your ideas what could be done to revive this genre, or just post about your favourite adventure games you've played.

For me, no company can beat Lucas Arts when it comes to adventures. From the Monkey Island games, to Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, Grim Fandango etc. were all unforgettable games I still replay every couple of years, and they never get old.

[ August 21, 2002, 12:18: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

You're absoloutley right, though by Adventure you mean point & click adventures right? Or as i used to call them when i was 6 "pick things up and use them on other things games" :) The last decent adventure game i can think of is monkey island 4 and that's what..like 2 or 3 years old! Another 3d adventure which tried to respark the Discworld series was Discworld Noir, which was ok-ish but was really a flop. Now my personal fave's MI3 but i don't expect another game ever to be on it's level of quality. The problem with adventure point&click games there's no replay value at all. I find that renting them is far better than buying. But, wwhen i was first learning to use a computer when i was 4-6 games like MI1 and THE DIG where great. wonderfully simple and fun. I have already noticed how most adventure games released latley are on the learning format and pretty soon possibly all... a shame but i don't really mind. Roll on the nextline of AD&D i say. :D :shake:

Now as a game that could revive it.... nah i see nothing yu could do with an adventure game that's new and inovative anymore... maybe a comedy MI style D&D game :)

[ August 21, 2002, 12:40: Message edited by: Z-Layrex ]

Ahh, now that NWN and War3 is out, they're gonna push the Adventure Genre even further into the Abyss...let us have a moment of silence...

...

Monkey Island 4 was pretty nice, rather funny, and...hmm...what other Adventure games are there? Do you mean things like Tomb Raider?

Noir would have been quite cool, but it's possibly even more bugged than Ultima IX (if that's even possible). I literally saved every 2 minutes, because once it would crash you had to reboot the computer before you could play again (it crashed Windows), and it kept crashing every 5/10 minutes in the later stages (this is the PC version I'm talking about). And check this out, EVERYONE had this same problem, but the company who made it fell apart by then and they simply declared the game as "bug-free", in spite of the cries of thousands of people who bought the game, and no patch for it came out. I was glad I waited and bought it in a cheapo version, but I was still very pissed off, especially since I'm a big fan of the Discworld, and since I quite liked the game, but when it keeps crashing on your every 5 minutes... Well, you can imagine.

I've never encountered a single bug or crash with any of the Lucas Arts adventures... And with no patches! Ah, those were the days...

Tomb Raider is not a real adventure game. Classic "adventure" as a genre usually involves one hero roaming around, picking up and combining/using items to solve problems. There's no shooting or killing or the like (unless the story requires it at some point).

Check this link (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=sorcerersplace&path=tg/browse/-/229579) for more adventure games. Most of them are pretty old by now, but not 1% less enjoyable than they were when they were released.

[ August 21, 2002, 13:56: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

Tal i own Discworld Noir and i can't remember it ever crashing on me... :confused:

[I can't find the exact message boards where I've seen hundreds of people complain about this same problem back then, but if you search around for "Noir crashing" you'll find the problem described in dozens of places. Guess you were just lucky.

Here, I found this:

4.2 Reported bugs / problems.

"Ah... now we hit a sticking point. While Noir is an involving and entertaining game, it's pretty damn buggy - the game itself won't install on Windows 95 release 1 in its original form. There is a patch for this problem available here - but said patch wasn't written by GT or Perfect. Nope, it was knocked up by yours truly - in fact, I rung GT's tech support line in the UK and asked about the problem, they directed me to this file on these very pages. Which may well have helped boost traffic to this site a little bit but it seems absurd that GT have never done anything about this themselves. Or, indeed, any of the other problems that have been reported such as use of the Notebook crashing peoples PCs, the game breaking down randomly and a myriad other problems. The advice they give is to press ctrl-alt-del and kill everything apart from systray and explorer which does work sometimes reportedly. Although it's hardly a satisfactory solution, and with Perfect having gone under and GT being taken over by Infograms it looks like a patch will never be forthcoming." Found at http://www.co.uk.lspace.org/games/discworld/faq.html ] -Tal

[ August 21, 2002, 14:05: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

Well, Lucas Arts is coming out with a sequal to Full Throttle, does that count? It does look really good (so far...and there's really not all that much so far, but still).

I loved Sam n Max. I thought that was by far the greatest adventure game. Really good stuff.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that one. Looking forward to it, though I didn't like the original Full Throttle that much. I heard it sold very well though.

I really liked Full Throttle myself though I never managed to finish it. You say the sequel is coming? I think that's like the only non-CRPG game I'll buy in years. :D I don't remember playing any other adventure games... :hmm: ...I remember borrowing Sam & Max from a friend but I just didn't find the time to play it. :(

I recall enjoying the 7th guest for 2 hours (the amount of time it took me to complete it). The first gorified computer game I'd seen. I enjoyed that one.

Honorable mention goes to Bad Mojo, which has you transformed into a cockroach, and trying to figure out both how to survive various cockroach dangers (spiders, rats, etc) and also trying to learn why you became a cockroach and how to change back into a human.

Very creative strange game. Never did finish it though.

I played Phantasmagoria II also, lol, that game sucked, it tried to get by on soft core porn and tons of gore... uncreative swill.

Ah well, I will miss the adventure genre, I think it will gradually be revived (or mutated) into something a little more like PS:T once story lines are saught after in games (unlike now).

I played the demo to Full throttle, and was totally sold. The 'one liner' before he jumps the ramp had me rolling on the floor.

I was fairly disappointed when I bought the game, but it grew on me just a little. Of course, Monkey Island 3 was awesome; dunno what they were thinking on MI4.

Day of the Tentacle was hilarious; I'd have to say, at some point or another, any humerous game must be evaluated against DoTT.

Indiana Jones: Fate of Atlantis was another awesome game. Why the Heck! Speilburg/Lucas didn't make *THAT* one into a movie is beyond me. Harrison Ford, and all the special effects, would have just been spellbinding. Granted, the final scene would have had to be re-written, but that's a cosmetic difference.

I'm not really sure it's 'adventure', but Star Control 2 comes really close. There's some action in it, but finding your way through all those stars and races is fairly adventurous.

Other than that, Myst had some *very* pretty pictures and sounds/music. Riven also as some good atmosphere, but minus the storyline (which isn't to say Myst's storyline is outstanding; just that Riven's sucked so badly the storyline factor went below zero into the negatives).

Saying that tomb raiders aren't adventure is another tough call. To this day, I love Tomb Raider 2. The others I still need to play through, although they look promising. I think if you absolutely do not like action games, then you should just cheat like crazy so it becomes less action and more strategy.

As in, should I just use the M-16 and 'run-and-gun' from the hip, or should I stop for a minute and jump up on the block and drop him with the uzi's so I can take a look at that really pretty cathedral entrance? Or should I just nuke the entire site with the grenade launcher?

What to do, what to do...

When a band of vicious pirates
are sailing out to sea
when you hear our gentle singing
you'll be sure to turn and flee!

Oh, this is just redicilous...
Come on men, we've got to recover that map!

The pirate will be done for when he falls into our trap!
We're a club of toonful rovers
We can sing in every clef
We can even hit the high notes
It's just too bad we're toon deaf

A pirate I was meant to be, trim the sails and roam the sea!

Let's go defeat that evil pirate!

We know he's sure to loose because we know just where to fire at!

We're thieving balladeers
A gang of cutthroat mugs
To fight us off ye don't need guns
Just jolly good ear plugs!

A pirate I was meant to be, trim the sails and roam the sea!

All right crew, let's get to work!

Our vocation is a thing we love, a thing we'd never sherk!

We'll fight your in the harbor
We'll battle you on land
But when you meet singing pirates
They'll be more than you can stand!

(-Oh, that was a good one!
-No it wasn't...)

No time for song, we got to move!

The battle will be long, but our courage we will prove!

We're a pack of scurvey sea dogs
Have we pitty? Not a dram!
We all eat roasted garlics
Then sing from the diaphragm!

A pirate I was meant to be, trim the sails and roam the sea!

Less sining, more sailing!

When we defeat our wicked foe, his ship he will be bailing!

If he try to fight us
He will get a nasty whackin'
If you disrespect our singing
We will feed you to a kraken!

A pirate I was meant to be, trim the sails and roam the sea!

I'm getting so sick of you guys and your rhyming...

We're ready to set sail, though the cannons need a priming!

We're troublesome corsairs
And we've come to steal your treasures
We would shoot you on the downbeat
But we have to rest five measures

A pirate I was meant to be, trim the sails and roam the sea!

Stop, stop, stop!

The brass is what we'll polish and the deck is what we'll mop!

You say your nasty pirates
Scheming, thieving, bad bushwackers?
From what I've seen I'll tell you
You're not pirates, you're the slackers!

I pirate I was meant to be, trim the sail and roam the sea!

We'll surely avoid scurvey if we all eat and orange...

Um...uh... door-hinge....no...oh guess the song's over then!
"phew"

The sailing bit's the best bit in the whole game of MI3 :shake:

[ August 21, 2002, 16:40: Message edited by: Z-Layrex ]

Sierra still has some adventure games kicking and/or in the works. The Gabriel Knight series had a new installment a year or two ago, and they are planning another Kings Quest game.

I read a review of another game that was supposed to be a very good adventure game, but I can't remember what it's called.

Anyone remember an old DOS-based graphics game called Starflight? It was released by Binary Systems in 1981 and the sequel was released in 1989. That game still holds a space on my harddrive, as it's still by far one of the best games I've ever played. I'm not sure if you'd consider it adventure or not, but I don't know what else to call it.

[ August 21, 2002, 17:17: Message edited by: Rastor ]

hey Tal shouldnt this topic be in the playground? :p
i loved the monkey island games :)

[Tough call... Since it doesn't go into detail about any games, and was mostly meant as a thread for memories it fits into both forums equally. I just happened to post it here.] -Tal

[ August 21, 2002, 20:34: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

These type of gaming reminds me of the good ol' days of PC gaming. Like sittin' on that chair of yours waiting to solve the intrincate puzzle to save someone's a** or your own while enjoyin' your favorite snack and sinkin' a coke down da throat.

Why are the good ol' days gone? :(

Thak God TAL could bring us Sorcerers :) .

P.S.: A real sorry TAL for the mispelling here, but I'm sure you'll agree that it certainly ads flavor :cool: . PLEASE, I don't wanna be the grammatical moron of the year, I just miss the Good ol' days, PLEAAASE! :cry: :wail: I BEG YOU!

I have been playing adventure games for a veeery long time, since they were all text based with no graphics. I played through the Kings Quest series, Space Quest, Police Quest and Leisuresuit Larry (Larry Laffer), all from Sierra.

I just loved the Gabriel Knight games, because the story lines were so great, with so much thorough research to place the storylines firmly in historical continuity. For instance in The Beast Within, with the werewolves, and all the historical facts about Wagner, the castle Neuschwanstein (sp?) and the king, recreating the whole inside of the castle in the game, and composing a whole new Wagner opera - wow, that was impressive.
Thinking about it, I almost get abstinences for Gabriel Knight games.

I liked The 7th Guest, The 11th Hour, Phantasmagoria, the X-Files game, the Indiana Jones games, and also the Ultima games, the Discworld games and the Myst series.

The Longest Journey was a fantastic game and it was even made in Norway! And they spoke Norwegian! For the first and only time in my life I actually got to play a great adventure game where all characters spoke my own language. That was really great! I hope they wil make another one sometime.

Practically every adventure game I could get my hands on, I bought and played. Zork, Arthurs Knights, Black Dahlia, Monkey Island, Shivers and many others I can't even remember - I collected them all, and every sequel...

I just looove adventure games, and can't quite understand why it should be a dying genre. True, Internet Multiplayer isn't really an option, but that's because of the nature of the game. When you need help to hack and slash, multiplayer is good. When all you need is your brain to solve puzzles, and there's no real action, you don't need multiple players.

Why should everything need to be for multiple players and connected to internet to be a financial success? What about strategy games like Civilization, or Dungeon Keeper or Heroes of Might and Magic? Or Sims? They don't need Internet, why should adventure games? The clue is storyline and graphics, and of course interface and user controls, and minimum bugs. When those things are excellent, the game should sell automaticly.

Show me a new adventure game with a complex storyline, good music and great graphics, and I'd buy it in a wink. Why shouldn't the rest of the world?

It was King's Quest VI that came free along with my computer years ago that got me hooked on gaming. I owe a lot to Sierra ande Lucas Arts. They still make great games, especially most of the Star Wars games by Lucas Arts :grin: , but "adventure" games are sparse now.

As for Longest Journey, I've considered buying that.

Well they may be "dead" or "dying" now, but they'll be back. As technology and game designing gets better and games have the opportunity to be longer, I think adventure games will do well. Because then there is room to make tons of multiple paths, scenarios, endings -- even more than what you may see today. Replayability won't be a problem anymore. They will be allowed to go beyond merely "get this inventory item and use it here..."

That's what I await.

Man I love Adventure games. I started with the text adventures of Infocom.

Zork I-III (II was the best), and the Enchanter series were fantastic.

The Lucas Arts games that I played were all good (Monkey Island 1-4, Indiana Jones, Sam n' Max).

The Space Quest series from Sierra was my favorite of theirs. Very funny.

The Superhero League of Hoboken was also really funny, but I can't remember who made it.

Deathgate and another by the same company that had the same interface were a couple of the last good Adventure games I played.

The last one I played was MI4, though I should get Grim Fandango... I'm just reluctant to buy older games now that I don't have infinite free time like I used to :)

[ August 21, 2002, 22:08: Message edited by: Blackthorne TA ]

Why should everything need to be for multiple players and connected to internet to be a financial success? What about strategy games like Civilization, or Dungeon Keeper or Heroes of Might and Magic? Or Sims? They don't need Internet, why should adventure games? The clue is storyline and graphics, and of course interface and user controls, and minimum bugs. When those things are excellent, the game should sell automaticly.

Show me a new adventure game with a complex storyline, good music and great graphics, and I'd buy it in a wink. Why shouldn't the rest of the world?Sure, that's how I feel as well. The problem is, the base that makes the game a success or failure are all the people who buy the game and ARE NOT hardcore fans, since those are always in the minority. Planescape: Torment just proves my point... Excellent game, rave reviews, but the general public didn't like it so it sold marginally.

You make examples out of Civilization, Dungeon Keeper, Heroes of Might and Magic and The Sims. But:

1. None of them are adventure games.
2. Civilization was one of the earliest PC games which made it big, and still has a large fan base even among older gamers. Same goes for Heroes of Might & Magic.
3. Dungeon Keeper is an exception, it's just a good game and similar enough to Diablo at a first glance that it sold well. There'll always be some exceptions.
4. The Sims doesn't fit into any category whatsoever. It's a phenomenon since it's the best-selling PC game of all times. And funny you shoud mention online play, they're making an online version of the game...

Basically the problem with adventures is no multiplayer and low replay value... Even though I do, most people never replay adventures. And you always have to talk about "most people" in cases like this, they're the ones who determine whether a game will be a success or (financial) failure.

[ August 21, 2002, 20:51: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

I just have to say one thing about adventure games...for me their next to imposable to complete. But that's just me.

The only adventure game I like(and own) is Indiana Jones. He's my hero. Cornish yes, but you cant help but feel that Lucas Arts did a very nice job on that game.

That's all I have to say.

I played Monkey Island 3 so many times it isn't fun to play it anymore.

Except for Monkey Island and the Seventh Guest, I never really played adventure games. I'm not really good at them, I never succeeded in figuring out the puzzles all of the puzzles and always needed to consult a friend or a walkthrough if I wanted to finish the game.

I also tried X-Files the Game btw, but didn't come for with that.

I don't think I've played any Adventure games as such. I've played things Like Simon the Sorcerer if that counts and Netstorm - which is mainly online. You control an island and have to sacrifice the enemies high priest to win. Quite fun, pretend the priest screaming on the altar is your worst enemy!!! :evil:

You make examples out of Civilization, Dungeon Keeper, Heroes of Might and Magic and The Sims. But:

1. None of them are adventure games.
Tal, if you read my post properly - you even quoted it - you'll see that I mentioned these games as examples of games that were NOT adventure games. They were actually meant to be examples of non-adventure games that did well without internet, and that if they could do it, why not adventure games.

As for Sims coming on Internet - I had no idea. But I know there are many communities and groups for them.

Perhaps, if a new adventure game used internet to create a community with background stories about people, events and places in the game, things that were integrated in the storyline, create a world around it, an universe where the storyline in the game was only a small part of the history, meaning there could be later games with storylines from other parts of that universe. Sort of like the Ultima world, with Britannia and lord British, or the Kings Quest world, where you followed the story through generations, starting with the knight and his way to become king, then his search for a wife, and then continuining with the stories of his son, his quest for a wife, and then his sister continues etc.etc.

Such things might spark more interest - gives more a feeling of a whole, instead of the game and story being unknown and new... As an OT example; the books of the same fantasy realm - like Forgotten Realms or the Tolkien world - although each book was new, the world was already known, so it would feel familiar and attractive.

The internet could be perfect for creating such a world, and for those not familiar with adventure games, it might feel more attractive when there was a well defined community around it, complete with forums where to get hints, help and walkthroughs.

Combined with Big B's idea of multiple storylines and endings - if an adventure game was played on internet, this could be possible. Then it could also be possible to choose the events you wanted to play in the game. To continue using Tolkien's world as an example; you could chose to play the Fellowship quest, or Feanor's quest for the Silmarils, or Beren's quest for Luthien, or Bilbo's quest to the Lonely Mountain, or you could chose to play the quest in Valinor, in Doriath, or the one in Lorien or the Shire, etc.etc. Don't you think this could be a way to integrate internet with adventure gamers, and recruiting new ones?

The only adventure games I've ever played were the King's Quest series, and they're the whole reason I ever found D&D. They got a bit off track with Mask of Eternity, though still slightly adventure like (and the music and the monsters used to scare me when I was small) more than half of it was clicking on a monster and killing it. The puzzles were nice though...

It would be interesting to see what Sierra would do to a King's Quest IX (I've always heard MoE was the last), loads of loyal fans left it after it changed to 3D and made quite drastic changes. Then again, a whole new band of gamers found it because of that... Hmmm...

Any recommendations for games to go back to and play? I like adventure games

King's Quest VIII Mask of Eternity "a little off track"?

More than just a little. I got to the last level and I was like, why have I been bothering to play this rubbish? And I stopped there and haven't looked back since. The first mistake was having the main character not be a part of the family. It went downhill from there.

Hmm, this post inspired me to dig out "day of the tentacle"... I never played it before, it has just been collecting dust for, hmm, well, it must have been a few years since I bought it now. :D

Anyway, I found it incredibly frustrating to get it to work.. as it is now it works, but the music doesn't, and the sound is also kind of weird.. or well, you get a feeling there is supposed to be spoken dialogue, a character goes "hmm.." and then the sound stops, even though you can see the lips move... quite annoying. Same thing happened when I tried to get Ultima 7 to work the other day, thought that one wouldn't even start.. Stupid xp.

EDIT: Found this site, if you want to try some of the classic computer games, for free.

[URL removed.] -Tal

Oh, and this is not illegal.. it is abandonware, that is, software that the producers have let go off.. so they are free and available to anyone who wants them. Day of the Tentacle is here, for example.. :)

[ August 23, 2002, 12:23: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

I've tried to play Myst, but I get nowhere... I guess it's time to try again...
Hand of Fate, I think it was called, was funny. The protagonist was female, and it had some great lines! The graphics are pretty crude, but I can live with crude graphics occasionally.

Blue, yes, that's just my point. Here we're talking about adventures. You can only do so much with adventures. Hardly anything that makes a good strategy game applies to a good adventure for example, and so on. All those games have a high replayability factor, adventures don't. That was my point. You don't have as much leeway with adventures as you have with other genres. Practically all adventures follow the same concept, hardly any came up with any substantial changes in 20 years.

idoru, no, that's a myth. Abandonware is just as illegal as warez. It only means that some copyright owners that don't distribute the game any more won't take any legal action against numerous sites that offer abandonware, nothing else. A rare few companies actually made their old games available for free, but that's it. Only those games are actually "legal" to be downloaded. For all others their owners' copyright still stands and if they wanted to sue, they could, and would win automatically.

I'm in favour of abandonware, but only when it actually concerns games you cannot buy anywhere any more. You can still buy most of the best adventures in various repacks for a very low price. Day of the Tentacle still sells. Sorry, but I'm removing your link.

Idoru:

There is a utility called "NTVSM Sound", or something of the like. NT Virtual sound manager, I think.

It just emulates an IRQ7 soundblaster pro. I think the one time I check it out on my laptop XP load, I could get the voices or the music to work. Just not both at the same time. Which is difficult enough with win9x and dos drivers on a SB live value. Doesn't alleviate the need for Dosg4w, which is a sacreligous extender for a excommunicated operating system, IMHO...

Also, the CDrom version is much updated and the voice acting is superb. The chick in medical school is down right hilarious, and the final scene with the xray machine and the chicken sqwak still has me rolling to this day. I played the floppy version, and I think there are some subtle differences between it and the cdrom version. Much like Alone in the Dark's differences.

Also, I never could get Sam n' Max to run properly. Win9x or Nt. Which is strange, 'cause DotT came out before it. Other than that, Zork 1 and 2 were excellent; the dungeon maps are permanently ingraned into my memory. I've blanked Zork3 *out* of my memory, and Zork Zero has faded enough that I can talk about it again.

Haha this just in>

LucasArts issued this press release today:
SAM & MAX TO HIT THE ROAD (AND OTHERS) IN LONG AWAITED CLASSIC ADVENTURE SEQUEL FROM LUCASARTS
Popular Madcap Dog and Rabbity Thing to Return for More Hilariously Skewed Adventures First Quarter 2004 on Windows PC

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. -- August 27, 2002 -- Sam & Max, interactive entertainment's most beloved canine and rabbit combo, hit the road again first quarter 2004 in a long awaited adventure comedy sequel for Windows PC from LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC. The follow up to the critically acclaimed 1993 adventure classic Sam & Max Hit the Road( will dispatch the Freelance Police into a wild world of screwy and vaguely quixotic missions. Each one will be jam packed with nerve-jangling action, brain-busting puzzles, and the kind of easygoing banter one might expect from a talking dog and a naked, hyperkinetic bunny. Sam & Max are based upon the "Sam & Max Freelance Police" comic book series created by Steve Purcell. LucasArts' Michael Stemmle, co-director of the award-winning original game, will direct the sequel. "Sam & Max Hit the Road is a classic and as close to being a signature game as any LucasArts has ever done," says Simon Jeffery, president of LucasArts.

"The Sam & Max sequel, much like the recently announced Full Throttle( II, perfectly complements LucasArts' renowned adventure game legacy and lends further support to the company's commitment to investing in and developing more of our original properties."

Wohoo!

Yes!!! Finally! Whoohoo, great news! Can't wait! This is going to the front page! :thumb:

Tal, why is this thread outside of Playground forum? If it wasn't started by you...

No, I wouldn't move it, I would DELETE it! :evil: :p

No, no close - you would have opened it again then :p :p

[Go read jesper's post.] -Tal

[ August 28, 2002, 20:37: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

For those of you who do not know the Unwholey Duo, you can read about them and their exploits, here:

www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/neches/158/snm1.htm (http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/neches/158/snm1.htm)

[Warning: This is from an age undreamed of. A time before the oceans drank Atlantis or the rise of the Sons of Arieus. A time when action words such as "Politically Correct" and "Nurturing Guidence" were unknown. A time when Tom and Jerry kicked each others a$$es! Partental guidence is suggested.]

Way cool! I need to replay this game... Or read that thing, at least. ;)

Played 'em all, loved 'em all.

DoTT, Samnmax and MI3 were the most outstanding games of this outstanding genre, however.

I enjoyed the original discworld.

I played all the King's Quest Games, and loved them. I wish Sierra would make more of them. I also liked the Quest for Glory seris for the mix of RPG and adventure(and humor!)