Adventure Forums - View Single Post - The Longest Journey was the last straw *Spoiler Warning*.

TangentBlack · 09-25-2007, 08:46 PM

Sam and Max, Grim Fandango, Broken Sword, Syberia, TLJ and Still Life are usually examples that people give when they want to prove the success of the genre. The more practice one recieves in terms of adventure games, the more you will understand the way that one must think: either extremely logically or extremely illogically. I do understand that you can momentarily avoid puzzles that you don't get by switching characters in DOTT, but that doesn't prevent you from having to eventually solving them anyhow. I can also understand how inconsistant logic may befuddle the player, and that is not fair; a player should be able to role-play the protagonist and temporarily think as the protagonist does and an inconsistant thought process can hinder fluidity in the game and frusterate players. I am not quite sure how Monkey Island differs in gameplay with Grim Fandango and thus cannot understand from where your complaints are coming. Both are linear, wacky and imaginative in gameplay and design, and both constantly compared in similarity to one another. The only difference is the mouse vs. arrowpad movement and Grim's heads-up item label feature. Could you specify here?

Adventure games are just a series of roadblocks in order to get to the finish. I do not believe in the slightest that linearity is inherently bad in a game at all. When a writer sets out to portray a theme and message, it may be the case that he or she does not want multiple solutions to a given problem because that "creativity" may cause discrepancies within the plot, disruption of the message and theme, and even may hinder the creativity of the writer when they are to be forced to add in an extra "out" to a situation. The games you refered to (at least Grim, TLJ and Broken) are about ten years old or more and open-endedness was very limited and not in relentless of the video game market. Games back then were not criticized for being linear because very few games had even touched something close to open ended choice gameplay. It is like criticizing a movie for not being in color when color wasn't even invented or in the mainstream.

I think that the forward progression of adventure games may lead to more multiple choice driven games, but there should not be rush to shut the door on linearity completely. After all, one of the many charms of the adventure genre is its ability to tell a story like a book using strong literary elements and characterization in order to portray an ultimate message, profound or merely lighthearted. Unless a choice is important in the deliverance of the theme or immerses the player deeper within the plot, I believe that it is best to allow the writer to present his or her material in a way that will stay true to the original intended direction

Since when has a puzzle not been a "pointless" hinderance in an adventure game? Even some of the most creative puzzles are just roadblocks preventing you to move forward. Without the occasional obscure and unusual puzzles, we would rarely be able to appreciate getting to the cinematic or progressing the plot.

09-25-2007, 08:46 PM	#5
TangentBlack Vigilant Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 300	Sam and Max, Grim Fandango, Broken Sword, Syberia, TLJ and Still Life are usually examples that people give when they want to prove the success of the genre. The more practice one recieves in terms of adventure games, the more you will understand the way that one must think: either extremely logically or extremely illogically. I do understand that you can momentarily avoid puzzles that you don't get by switching characters in DOTT, but that doesn't prevent you from having to eventually solving them anyhow. I can also understand how inconsistant logic may befuddle the player, and that is not fair; a player should be able to role-play the protagonist and temporarily think as the protagonist does and an inconsistant thought process can hinder fluidity in the game and frusterate players. I am not quite sure how Monkey Island differs in gameplay with Grim Fandango and thus cannot understand from where your complaints are coming. Both are linear, wacky and imaginative in gameplay and design, and both constantly compared in similarity to one another. The only difference is the mouse vs. arrowpad movement and Grim's heads-up item label feature. Could you specify here? Adventure games are just a series of roadblocks in order to get to the finish. I do not believe in the slightest that linearity is inherently bad in a game at all. When a writer sets out to portray a theme and message, it may be the case that he or she does not want multiple solutions to a given problem because that "creativity" may cause discrepancies within the plot, disruption of the message and theme, and even may hinder the creativity of the writer when they are to be forced to add in an extra "out" to a situation. The games you refered to (at least Grim, TLJ and Broken) are about ten years old or more and open-endedness was very limited and not in relentless of the video game market. Games back then were not criticized for being linear because very few games had even touched something close to open ended choice gameplay. It is like criticizing a movie for not being in color when color wasn't even invented or in the mainstream. I think that the forward progression of adventure games may lead to more multiple choice driven games, but there should not be rush to shut the door on linearity completely. After all, one of the many charms of the adventure genre is its ability to tell a story like a book using strong literary elements and characterization in order to portray an ultimate message, profound or merely lighthearted. Unless a choice is important in the deliverance of the theme or immerses the player deeper within the plot, I believe that it is best to allow the writer to present his or her material in a way that will stay true to the original intended direction Since when has a puzzle not been a "pointless" hinderance in an adventure game? Even some of the most creative puzzles are just roadblocks preventing you to move forward. Without the occasional obscure and unusual puzzles, we would rarely be able to appreciate getting to the cinematic or progressing the plot.