[mgeorge]

I don't often play adventure games but have become sick of all the FPS trash out there. I'm more into FPS/RPG's such as Deus Ex, VTM Bloodlines, System Shock 2 and love the Thief series of games. All of the abovementioned have great stories in my opinion. Problem is there's very few games in this genre availible and I'm sick of playing the same games over and over.

So I've been trying out a bunch of AG demos to see if I can kind of switch gears, because although I'm fairly dumb at puzzles I like the fact that it seems the story takes precedence over the gameplay which to me is always a good thing.

I've tried Experience 112, which I think is a great idea because it's so unique. Played the Still Life demo, Post Mortem, Delaware St John, (the second one), Scratches, and just tried one called Beyond the Spirits Eye. Problem is I pretty much liked them all and seeing as I'm pretty short on cash, having a problem choosing which one.

I must be getting a bit smarter in my old age though, because I actually finished all of these without going to a walkthrough. Amazing for a brain challenged guy like me! Problem with all these demos is there're all way to short and don't give me much of an idea how really difficult the puzzles get later in the game.

So I figured I'd ask you guys who are the experts. I like horror and Sci Fi, as well as a good mystery. Would also prefer mature themed games. Right now I'm leaning towards Still Life, but I also really enjoyed Post Mortem. I liked Scratches as well, but it seemed to lag pretty bad on my comp although I'm way above the system requirements. I'm finding the puzzles in these paticular games (at least in the early stages), seemed logical if you used your brain.

As much as I like the idea of AG's, some of the ones I've tried in the past have had puzzles that made no sense to me at all, so perhaps the genre has come foward more than I originally thought. Also as goofy as I thought some of the gameplay in Indigo Prophecy was, and despite the disappointing ending, I really enjoyed the game because of the story and because it was so different from anything I've played before. So if there's any games similar to that I may have missed would love to hear about them as well.

Appreciate any replies.

[buddi]

The only one of those I have played is Scratches. It's a good game and I enjoyed it, but that mouse lag glitch you were talking about is a major problem and really cuts into the flow of the game. I've looked for solutions on here and other web sites but it seems to be an unresolved issue. I liked the game enough to play through despite it, but it really slowed me down and hampered my ability to explore, at one point I had to resort to a walkthrough because I didn't have enough mouse control to search the relevant area. If you are the kind of person to be bugged at this then yeah, you will feel like you wasted your money. It was the Scratches Director's cut, by the way, and the Last Visit segment played fine, although it was kind of short and cheesy Good luck deciding where to spend your $$

[Periglo]

I have played Still Life recently, and I must say it seems very a "old school" AG to me. Which is OK, all I mean is, it has lots of puzzles, and some were not that good, imho (although I did enjoy one of the hardest ones). If you come from the RPG world, you might consider Dreamfall, which has some RPG elements (which have been heavily criticized). It has an adult theme, and is set in a futuristic environment. Give it a try (or, check the demo). I'd love to see more games between RPGs and AGs, like Bloodlines, but there doesn't seem to be too many.

[mgeorge]

Thanks for the advice.

It's too bad about Scratches as I really liked it. I thought it may be something with my computer. I'll get a 3 or 4 second lag after I open a drawer or look at a picture or something, which in a game so slow paced anyway, takes away from the immersion for me. It also tossed me to the desktop once with some sort of "time out" error.

I had no idea Dreamfall had any RPG elements to it so perhaps will give the demo a try. The only reason I haven't is because it is almost a 3 gig download, which seems awfully large considering it's only a demo. I did try The Longest Journey several years ago, and TBH, didn't like it very much. I've heard it's got one of the best stories ever in a game, but back when I played it I found it quite convoluted and just couldn't get into it. Of course I didn't try very hard either as at the time was more into FPS type games.

It seems a lot of folks here thought Dreamfall blasphemous as it didn't include a lot of, as you guys say "old school" elements. Personally that doesn't bother me so I'm going to DL it now and give it a try despite it's size.

I too wish for more games like Bloodlines. I don't believe I've seen it mentioned here but I found Call of Cthulhu, Dark Corners of the Earth an excellent game as well. Very foreboding atmosphere throughout and steath was done fairly well too. I thought it captured the spirit of Lovecraft better than any flick or other game I've seen.

Any other recommendations would be great.

[Jn1]

Some others you might like with good stories:

Broken Sword 1 and 2 - One of my favourite games..intriguing conspiracy based story, immersive environments eventhough it is cartoony and the puzzles are mostly very logical. BS 2 is also worth playing, but not in the same league as 1 imo. Think you need ScummVM to play these. Also needed for old Lucas Arts games.

Planescape: Torment - If you like RPG's then you should really get this as a priority if you haven't played it already. Original story, dark atmosphere and quests that can 90% of the time be solved just in dialogue trees, as long as your char has high enough int/wisdom. Loads of reading to be done though, so probably not for everyone.

Final Fantasy 7 and 9. Both these games have epic storys, but the action is quite repetitive and gets tedious after a while. Played some of ff8 but the story didn't seem as interesting as these 2..haven't played any others. Think ff7 took me about 50-60 hours to get to the end, and in 9 i'm at the start of the third disk of 4 with about 30 hours played. With 9 though you need playstation disks and a software emulator to play on PC.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is also worth checking out. Has a good story and you you can play it in different ways, like with some fighting or extra puzzles or in an Easy mode iirc with fewer puzzles.

Monkey Island 1 and 2 - Funny games. Can be quite difficult though.

Beneath a Steal Sky is quite good, but a bit short. Its been released for free now by the developer (same guys as Broken Sword) and can be downloaded from the ScummVM website.

The Digg was OK but very short.

Dreamfall is a good choice. Great story, but is hardly a game imo. More of an interactive story. Don't remember any RPG elements, just some stealth in certain parts, some timed sequences and a little combat. Most of your time will be spent listening to dialogue. The puzzles are virtually non-existant, except for 1 in particular that had me stumped

Spoiler:

till I looked at a walkthrough and found I had to have listened to a tune and repeated it later on..trial and error got me through that bit

Agree with you on TLJ..tried a few times to get into it but the poor dialogue and characters put in purely for comic relief that for me weren't particulary funny and the puzzles that were often quite illogical put me off. It was trying to be serious one moment, then put in illogical puzzles and annoying characters the next.

You can probably get most of the above very cheaply because they're all old except for Dreamfall.

[mgeorge]

Well I went down to my local Gamestop today to find something and they only had a few AG games. They had several Nancy Drew mysteries and the Adventure Company anniversary bundle which I almost picked up. I noticed a game called Culpa Innata at the last minute though, and it was familiar from this forum, so I picked it up knowing nothing at all about it. I mostly decided on it because it's Sci fi which I do enjoy.

I played it for about an hr and my first impressions were not good at all. The very first puzzle seemed more like trial and error than anything which didn't impress me, and then I got to another puzzle where you have to open a door which also seemed like it was all trial and error. Maybe there is some logic to these first puzzles but I'll be damned if my feeble mind can find it.

However the story started to suck me in. It's a pretty interesting premise, and from someone who's been playing a lot of Thief fan made missions lately, I found the graphics fine. I also just got to the point where I had my first real conversation with an NPC in-game and I really liked the dialog choices. Whether they have any bearing on how the game plays out, I have no idea but at least they are there which I find pretty cool.

I have a question though to anyone who may have played it though. I was questioning this kind of goofy girl in a place called the Thing Store, and it seems to me out of the blue the main character (me), asked the girl about the other clerk who's name is Piper. How would Phoenix know the name of the other clerk? Did I miss something? The way she asked was as though she knew this girl.

Anyway, good or bad I'm stuck with the game. I'm really hoping I'll get more puzzles that I can actually figure out without using trial and error. (or a walkthrough). I came across a safe I'm sure I'm supposed to open, but I couldn't find any clue as to how proceed to get it opened. Plus I can't figure out how to use the software on my computer in-game either. Your inventory items are on a separate screen and I can't figure out how to place an inventory item into the software screen because once you highlight an inventory item and switch to the software screen, your item no longer shows up.

Even though I haven't enjoyed the puzzles thus far, I am enjoying the story, and that's good enough for me right now if it holds up.

Again thanks for the replies.

[tastebud]

If you liked Deus Ex you should try Bioshock (don't think I saw you mention that one.)

Also, Still Life is the most mature adventure game I can think of. I liked it but some riddles were pretty bad (the infamous cookie making puzzle.) That's what walkthroughs are for though so I'd still check it out.

I also liked Dreamfall even though the gameplay wasn't too impressive but as you said, story comes first... can't remember any RPG elements from it though which a previous poster mentioned...

[mgeorge]

Ah Bioshock. Loved the game personally although some folks thought it was "dumbed down". Me, I didn't think it was quite as good as SS2, Deus Ex or VTM Bloodlines, but a fantastic game nonetheless. The story was incredible but I personally thought the "climax" of the game came a bit to early. Still though it was very refreshing seeing a game that was more FPS than RPG and contain a thought provoking story.

As for AG games, looks like I'll have to buy them digitally or something as Gamestop is the only store that's near me and they had squat for adventure titles.

Thanks for the reply.

[Jn1]

I enjoyed Culpa Innata for quite a while, but there were a few things that stopped me playing. Will probably go back and finish it sometime, but I did start getting bored of the way you have to question people. You can only ask a certain amount of questions per person per day, and it feels quite random sometimes whether a question will be the "right" one or not to progress the story. If you get the questioning wrong then you have to go to another place, question someone else, then somewhere else till she has to go home, then she has to go out will her friend and gossips. Then you go back to the same places and ask some more. Got repetitive after a while.

The puzzles though were quite good for the most part, though I did consult a walkthrough a few times but that doesn't mean they're bad. I agree about the trial and error though..I found myself doing that because I couldn't see a logical way to complete the puzzles sometimes.

Re using items on the computer - iirc you have to be in the right part of the computer to start with, then press a little button that only appears on some items near the info for it, then you can place it if the hand icon changes colour when you point it to the correct area on the screen. Like in Image Processing you can put pictures in there etc.

Don't think her knowing about Piper is important..might be a bug or her name was mentioned at some point.

Oh and as for buying games, I get most of mine mail order over the internet - seems to be cheaper that way and you shouldn't have any difficulty finding what you want.

[Periglo]

Originally Posted by tastebud

I also liked Dreamfall even though the gameplay wasn't too impressive but as you said, story comes first... can't remember any RPG elements from it though which a previous poster mentioned...

I agree, story comes first. About RPG elements, you are probably right, I thought the inclusion of fighting, plus some stealth, plus having several main characters, would make it a bit RPG-ish, but it definitely lacks obvious RPG features such as character stats, items, all that. It ends up resembling Beyond Good and Evil somewhat, which is, imho, an amazing action(ish?) game.

[Dale Baldwin]

The hint request and responses have been moved to this thread in our hints forum.