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Adventure Gaming: Rest In Peace?
"From research in newsgroups and articles on various gaming sites (by no means supposed to be academically exhaustive) it seems to me that there are all sorts of idea and opinions on the subject floating around, most, as you might guess, contradictory. Here are a few examples of the kinds of statement that you can find, some from old time game designers, and others from random punters on newsgroups:
- the technology has simply moved on, and adventure games don't allow for the kind of flashy graphics and big bangs that sell video cards.
- the genre isn't dead, it just evolved. Elements that we loved from adventure gaming have been incorporated into the current genres.
- the games weren't really THAT good, we just remember the effect they had on us with rose coloured lenses. We should remember the good times and let it die. After all, who wants to play 'guess the verb' or 'click every item in your inventory on every other item'? We've moved on.
- they were too linear, and offered too little replay value.
Personally, I cherish the memories and the stories from this era of gaming, and would love to see the genre resurrected."
Wind Waker changes the control from really really 3rd person to less 3rd person, and there's some (easy) combat, but it's basically the same as kings quest
solve the puzzle, move on
use the right item to solve the puzzle, move on
rinse and repeat
It's just that the puzzles in the Kings Quest games were often a bit more intellectual than "push the blocks around" (but at the time I was in grade school / jr. high, so maybe I just remember wrong)
anyway, I'd love another real KQ game (they quit making them after VI), but Zelda has enough of the elements for me
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Don't Resident Evil type games fit into the adventure category? They aren'tqite as simple but you still have your items and your story line to go an play with.
-G
I've noticed, however, that games like Splinter Cell incoroporate a lot of the 3-d transferrable characteristics of the adventure genre: Creative thinking, strategy-based playability and a plot.
I loved true adventure games because of their similarities to a book - a full plot a story which could result in a number of different endings. Text adventures and semi-graphical adventures were of the same caliber, IMHO. In fact, independent developers are still making and porting both of these types, which are easy to find and free to play. Those who seek to make a profit, however, expend their efforts elsewhere.
I would say that it is the hardware market which drives the software market, and it is this which is at least partially responsible for the decline in further commercial development of the adventure game genre.
The adventure games died out when decent 3d hardware accelerated graphics took off. Grim Fandango was probally one of the later adventure games, it had prerendered graphics with 3d characters. Although adventure games have died off many other games are starting to get adventure qualities in them. Think of the diffrence between doom and a modern single player fps shooter.
cat
In particular, The Longest Journey blew my mind -- strong puzzles and, more importantly to me, a well-crafted story. Unfortunately, it got almost no distribution in the US, though you can find it for $20 at BestBuy, CompUSA, etc. And who can forget Grim Fandango? I'm hoping that the Sam and Max and Full Throttle sequels live up to those titles.
This is a very old topic. I remember reading "End of Adventure Games?" articles 5 years ago if not more than that.
I don't think Adventure games would have been as linear as they were to begin with if the technology were there at the time. So I'll agree with one of the opinions you listed. It didn't die, it split apart and exists somewhere in the genres that exist today.
My opinion really doesn't matter, though, because if this keeps up I'm going to have to say it again in another 5 years.
-Rabbit
I swear if I heard 'adventure is dead' again, I'm gonna go into a psychopathic rage of destruction. Yes, adventure games now are nothing like their older counterparts who made up for their so-so graphical ability with indepth stories and interaction within the game. Adventure however is not dead since they are still making games for it. Last year 'Syberia' was a pretty big one, and though I did not think it was anything close to the classics, it was an adventure game and a well made one at that. The Longest Journey which came out in 2000 was another great adventure game, one that surprised many people with its appearance and quality. Again, while this may not be as good as the classics, it was a good game, and well made. Full Throttle 2 is slated for released soon, and I know the makers of Syberia are working on another game.
No, those who say adventure is dead are either A) not playing the games at all and thus dont know what theyre talking about or B) have such a rigid definition of adventure games they cant accept whats available now. Thats too bad for you, but don't go around saying the horse is dead when we're all still riding it around. Not to mention the HUGE potential for a really good adventure game to be released; the more people who say stuff like this, the more likely the only adventure games you will find in the future will be on ebay or abandonedware. So yes, please lets not get too dramatic here, nothing is dead yet, only on its way.
"What can a thoughtful man hope for mankind on Earth, given the experience of the past million years? Nothing." -Bokonon
I nearly cried at the ending of Syberia, the story was great and graphics beautiful.
Speaking of graphics, the technology behind Syberia is nothing like Doom III, but it incorporated 3D for character animation (even let you turn antialiasing on). Post Mortem is a bit of a step forward graphics-wise, but just wait for Syberia 2:
- Dynamic graphics and lighting details such as glass reflections, ice texture, uniform fabric, and decals.
- Real-time snowfall and footsteps marks.
- Dynamic lighting and shadows.
- Animated fog.
- Enhanced in-game animation.
(taken from an interview with Benoit Sokal on Gamespy).That's pretty impressive for an adventure game, if you ask me... Just take a look at screenshots in the interview.
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Agreed - I've been hanging for this one. I dusted off my original Sam and Max and played it to the end. Surprisingly it worked with sound and everything in winME, no need for ScummVm. Who says great graphics aren't conducive to the genre? Cell Shading man! I hope that's whats coming for S+M 2!!!
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I like System Shock 2; yeah, it was a a shooter, but it had a decent plot, there was character advancement, sometimes there was more than one way to solve a problem (use your guns, use psionics, or hack into a computer...). I though the environment was well done; I felt like I was in the environment they were trying to convey...
It was a little short, though; also, it did suffer at times from too much 'running around to find the key to get behind the locked door'. However, it's cheap now (if you can find it), so I'd pick it up...
You might also want to look at any of the Thief series; at least the first two were created by the same people who made System Shock 2. In a more classic vein, Ultima Underworld 1 and 2 are also interesting, more from a historical view (i.e., 'wow, I didn't realize they had made this back then') but it's still a shooter/adventure hybrid.
(Okay, I like Looking Glass Studios a little too much...*grin*)
The latest Medal of Honor game (the name escapes me) seems to get good reviews, and looks like it's a more goal-oriented shooter, at least; it may be more of a shooter than what you're looking for (I miss the Black Mesa labs, too...).
tigermonkey