[Kazmajik]

I wouldn't be surprised if Still Life 2 ended up here, based on comments so far.

[seanparkerfilms]

Syberia, for all the reasons previously mentioned on the thread. Not a particularly bad game really, but it had been way over-hyped for me. I just found it lacking in its slow pacing, passable-to-mediocre voice acting, and overall "emptiness."

Myst V: End of Ages — I actually loved Myst IV: Revelation and only can nitpick it (though the difficulty on a couple puzzles was far beyond my capabilities and I did need a walkthrough), and found Myst V to be good, but nowhere near as terrific as its predecessor. Even with Cyan behind the helm, the magic of the series just didn't seem all there. I didn't mind the 3D shift too much, but the graphical amazingness of Revelation's prerendered material was breathtaking, whereas here it did feel like a big step back. Also, I missed the live actors quite a lot.

Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, not because it's a bad game by any means. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that I love it (though not quite as much as 1 & 2). But dammit, that ending... that terrible, anticlimactic, somewhat rushed ending. I'm not talking about the controversial action-oriented puzzle-fest in the finale (I dug that, it was exciting); I mean the ending cutscene in the hotel. To leave the story of the main characters just sort of hanging there in a completely unsatisfying way was a big letdown (and a bit of a downer ending, as opposed to the immensely satisfying endings of the first two games, which provided a good sense of closure but also made you excited for the things to come). The only thing that would let the ending be justified to me is if a fourth game were to come. More than anything I'd love for that to be true. But as it stands, the epic and grandiose Gabriel Knight trilogy ends on a bit of a mere fizzle to me. Whoever the heck owns the rights to the franchise (is it Activision-Blizzard now?) needs to put them back into the hands of the true owner, Jane Jensen... immediately.

[Shany]

You made me remember how disappointed I was with Gabriel Knight 3. After the lovely GK2 we get a dull looking game that moves very slowly, a plot that just did not grab me (why's the intro not in the game anyway?), non-linearity which usually meant missing out on the interesting stuff, dull puzzles until you get to Le-Serpent Rouge (which I'm ashamed to say I didn't really get). And the constant walking around town looking to find if anything has changed... just not fun.

As for other disappointments:
Super Jazz Man - I was expecting more from this indie game. It was short, boring and had a terrible action sequence which even after a look at a walkthrough took me a while to get past. And for a game about music, the music wasn't that memorable. They could've at least given you different tunes when SJM plays the saxophone - it was always the same song. I also found the characters uninteresting, especially the main character.

[Ascovel]

Originally Posted by Shany

dull puzzles until you get to Le-Serpent Rouge

Except the "mustache and candy" series of puzzles.

[seanparkerfilms]

Originally Posted by Shany

You made me remember how disappointed I was with Gabriel Knight 3. After the lovely GK2 we get a dull looking game that moves very slowly, a plot that just did not grab me (why's the intro not in the game anyway?), non-linearity which usually meant missing out on the interesting stuff, dull puzzles until you get to Le-Serpent Rouge (which I'm ashamed to say I didn't really get). And the constant walking around town looking to find if anything has changed... just not fun.

Originally Posted by Ascovel

Except the "mustache and candy" series of puzzles.

All good points. I still enjoy the story and love the character development though. But yeah — the prologue shouldn't have been only in the graphic novel, as it definitely threw the pacing off from the get-go. In fact, I'd say because of that, the beginning of the game is just about as bad as the end. And while I knew what I was getting into with the aforementioned silly, silly puzzle sequence (and it was kind of fun and hilarious with its absurdity), it belonged more in an adventure game parody than a Gabriel Knight chapter.

One last thing to mention about the game — if I remember correctly, Robert Holmes was not the primary/only composer. There was some really nice music in there, but it seemed few and far between. What sticks in my mind most about the music is slow synth pads — an overall lack of driving, tense, dramatic themes. If Holmes had more of his music in the game, and if it were more in line with the scores of his past, that would likely alleviate some of the pacing problems.

[Atombomb2097]

Originally Posted by ggreen737

What adventure game let YOU down the most?

It's a toss up between Dreamfall and Sam & Max. Not because they were bad games, but probably because my expectations were insanely high. Dreamfall just didn't capture that same magic that TLJ had IMO. Sam&Max along with DOTT were my first adventure games, and therefore spoiled me forever. I still haven't made it past Episode 2 in Sam&Max, so I guess I can't really talk

My latest disappointment was Sinking Island. Not a bad game, but a very uninteresting and boring one. Before that I think Phantasmagoria II, Martin Mystere : Operation Dorian Gray, Hitchcock: The Final Cut, Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder, Midnight Nowhere.

I should also mention Jack the Ripper, Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft, The Experiment, Dead Reefs, The New Adventures of the Time Machine, The Secrets of Atlantis, Atlantis 3. All of them are disappointing one way or another, but they each have some redeeming quality either the storyline, characters or some puzzles. I'm sure there are other disappointing games out there, but I can't have a valid opinion on them until I play them

[Tramponline]

Yep, same here.

Sinking Island and Paradise - top contenders in this category!!

games with fairly nice, even sometimes amazing graphics (Benoit Sokal) without any substance in terms of an ample mood or caring for it's characters.

...like perceiving the (intentionally) cold and non immersive 'surface' of some of Kubrick's films...
these games are beautiful and 'flat'!

[millenia]

Originally Posted by Kazmajik

I wouldn't be surprised if Still Life 2 ended up here, based on comments so far.

This.

I was expecting a good wrapup for the first game and a great new story. I wasn't as bold to think that I'd get something better than the first game but I was looking forward to somewhat equal or only slightly worse sequel.

But it was crap. It begins okay enough, it could have been build up to something better but from the okay beginning it just starts to go down and the end is just a timed sequence hell. Villain is crap, other characters are crap and the plot is crap. In the end, only thing I liked was the music.

Spoiler:

With villain being crap I mean every one of them. All of them seem to have the exact same personality, including Richard. Hawkes I actually liked at first and I was hoping they wouldn't make him the same maniac but of course they did. Everything was annoyingly predictable and shallow.

[lnewlove]

Ghost in the Sheet

[inm8#2]

I haven't played as many games as most people on here, so I've really just played the good ones. If there's one that didn't hit the spot it's Phantasmagoria. I played it when I was 12 or so and liked it back then, but in retrospect the gameplay wasn't great, the story lacked, and it was just silly in some regards.

[Mikane Zaprick]

I'm playing Still Life (Still Life 1, I guess you'd call it) right now because I wanted to play SL2.

I looked at some reviews, both 'professional' and 'user', beforehand and it seemed to be liked quite well by more than a few, so I was thinking I was in for some good gameplay. I was thinking maybe I'd even have a couple of good games ahead of me...

But this game, SL1, is dreadful.

It's pretty, and has good voice acting, and doesn't crash, and isn't too much of a pixel-hunt, it's got a story that's not (terribly) hackneyed, and many of the other assets many people feel are "what makes a good AG".

But it is entirely monotonous as far as 'playing' goes! I haven't had to engage my brain once. It's another one of these tortuous, hand-holding drone-athons.

There's dialog... but you just click through it. There no choice at all.

There are puzzles... but they are are about as complicated as being asked to arrange the numbers 1 thru 10 in order of magnitude

There are obstacles... but they are played out in cut-scenes.

And there are advance-the-game-mechanisms... but the 'solutions' to these are all prompted by having the NPCs spell them out for you.

I cannot believe people want to spend their time (and money) on this kind of junk.

It's just really, really weird to me.

[SharonB]

My biggest disappointment was thru Agatha Christie: Orient Express. I found this game to consist of a lot of going back and forth on the train, dull characters and basically boring. Which is a shame as I had been looking forward to this release.

To be fair, it may just have been my mood when I played it. I may have expected too much from it, but still, all in all I found it boring for the most part.

[nonax]

Most of my disappointments are already posted:
Starship Titanic, got really excited due to an advertisement. Even with a walkthrough I was never able to finish it.
Paradise, the story didn't spoke to me like the Siberia's did.
Dreamfall, even though I really enjoyed most part I was let down by the action sequences. What offended me was what they had turned my beloved April into!
Ghost in sheet, really hated the voice of the protagonist. And a silly story.

I would like to nominate these ones:
Grim Fandango, after reading all the hurrays for this game it couldn't live up to my expectations I guess.
Amerzone, short and simplistic. Nice graphics for the time though.

[Volde]

Haven`t played much of ag when compared to other users but A Vampyre Story takes the top spot. I like vampires, i like artistic style of it, sound is fine but i just can`t play it more than 20 minutes due to game trying sooo hard to be funny and Mona...

[Fantasysci5]

I have to agree, with all of the hype of "Grim Fandango", it didn't match up for me. But I blame this on my not liking comedy games, so I don't really blame Grim Fandango.

[MusicalGremlin]

I honestly consider Runaway: A Road Adventure to be the worst game I have ever played. I could go on for hours about why I hated it, in fact, the only way I can keep this short is by saying I did not find even *one* redeeming aspect out of 6 chapters.

And I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who was incredibly let down by Dreamfall. I personally consider it to be absolutely terrible, both as a standalone game and a successor to TLJ. What a stupid, clichéd mess.

[L-Jazz]

The Gabriel Knight series, Martin Mystere: Operation Dorian Gray, Moment of Silence.

[orient]

Although I wasn't really anticipating it, Runaway: A Road Adventure was a total waste of money and completely the opposite of what I consider a good adventure game. Out of games that I was actively anticipating, Broken Sword: The Angel of Death was probably the biggest let down. It had such potential, too Oh, and the demo of Still Life 2 if that counts. I'm not even going to risk spending the money on that game.

I'm surprised to see so many Syberia's and The Longest Journey's being listed. I went into these games with little to no expectations and I think they're great. Currently playing through TLJ for the first time at the moment.

[ozzie]

Normally I have a pretty good instinct what I like so disappointments are rare.
Dreamfall was one though, oh yes. But it took its time to reveal it to me.

I wasn't so bothered that it was a patchwork of popcultural elements or that the ending left me hanging while resolving only one out of many storylines, no, the main reason is that the game just lost me in the second half.

It started wonderfully, Zoes town was welcoming, I liked her friends and cared about her (ex-)boyfriend. I was slightly scared in the border house and liked the alternative solutions to puzzles. But somewhere along the way....the game got worse and worse.

Kinda funny that I think that every moment in Arcadia sucks. While the realm of magic was the high point in TLJ in Dreamfall it seems kinda pointless. When I think about it, you could have told the story to the end without mentioning and showing Arcadia at all and it probably would have been much more fulfilling!
What angered me the most was the marathon of tediousness you had to get through. Seemingly endless, droning dialogue that didn't move along, fetch quests that replaced puzzles and a more and more pointless plot I couldn't care less about.

My main worry in the story was Zoes boyfriend and I found it kinda hard to swallow that the writers forgot about him. He's the motivation to start your adventure and you never find out what happened to him.

Now that I write it down I realize that I don't know in the exact details anymore why I dislike the game. But in summary, first half top, second half, from the underground cave with April onwards, urgh !!

[Jadefalcon]

That whole underground cave section with the huge monster really got up my nose and soured me to the whole game I'm afraid.