[imisssunwell]

In my view the people who are "adventure gamers" or "fps gamers" these days are a minority. Be it casual gamers, who just go to the store and buy the game which is more advertised or more hardcore gamers, who go watch n4g, kotaku and write on the developer forums, more or less, everyone plays everything these days. Specific genre gamers are so 90's.

If a game, as a game -not an AG or FPS or Action or RPG - is not up to industry standards, non of the above categories (casual & hc gamers) is going to bother too much about it. Only people that follow a genre with almost religious belief will buy a game bellow certain standards and 3D is an industry standard these days, maybe with 1-2 exceptions to the rule.

One or two top notch games would be enough to revive the genre and set a new level of standards. RPG games were pretty much dead before Baldur's Gate, Torment & Fallout. Since then, RPGs are getting better and better. It only takes just a few well crafted titles to do the job. If e.g. Dreamfall Chapters comes out and is the game I hope it to be in addition with an AG title of high craft, using modern engines, UI & gameplay, then the whole genre will bet boosted.

[Hannes]

^Yes and no. Young people, who play most games are pretty stuck with fps and rgp games (probably WOW, GW etc as well). Shooting things or killing things is pretty much still the big attraction to them, as are multiplayer games. I don't think specific genres are 90's any more than they are 2010's. Genres do mix but the main focus is usually fps.

Dreamfall did a pretty good job with upgrading the genre with the times, even though the lack of interaction didn't get every1 excited. Fahrenheit took another direction, in my opinion it went too far as an ag, and alienated me from the genre for a while. I feel people sometimes get so blinded by the professional graphics to see a game for what it is.

It's not so much about following a specific genre, but finding games that you enjoy. If a game has a great story, I play it, no matter what genre it falls into, as long as I also enjoy the playability of it. Bioshock 1 &2, I love, and they're not ags at all. But with that being said, I also believe it makes a difference what the genre is. Not everyone likes point n click, and not everyone likes rpg, even if the story was great, it turns some ppl off.

[potan]

Originally Posted by Hannes

...
Dreamfall did a pretty good job with upgrading the genre with the times, even though the lack of interaction didn't get every1 excited.
...

Hannes, since you mention about lack of interaction on Dreamfall, i'm curious what kind of interaction do you think that will make the game better ?

Do you mean interacting with the environment ?
like opening drawer, door, physic on props etc..etc... at the same level as Fallout 3 for example, is that the kind of interaction you're looking for ?

[orient]

1. Do you think Dreamfall will ever get a sequel? Honestly?
I'm steeped in doubt at the moment due to Funcom losing staff and their PR saying the game is on "indefinite hold" (even if Ragnar did correct them later on). Developing MMOs is a risky business. If The Secret World flops then we can probably say goodbye to Funcom as we know it.

The Secret World isn't due out until 2011/2012, which means the earliest we're likely to see the first episode of Dreamfall: Chapters is about 2014. That's if the project doesn't get swept under the rug because it's not a part of their business plan anymore.

It's hard to care about something that seems so far away.

2. Do you think Ragnar Tørnquist a) destroyed, b) resurrected, or c) raped the TLJ franchise?
None of the above. I think he modernised the franchise with Dreamfall. Apart from the fighting -- which was a clear mistake in my eyes -- the game was excellent from start to finish. A fantastic evolution of the original.

I do think it was a little naive of the creators not to give the game a more rounded ending, instead of pointing to a sequel that we could end up waiting a decade to play, but that's game development, I suppose. Tough decisions are made. Things go wrong. Things get delayed.

[Hannes]

Originally Posted by potan

Hannes, since you mention about lack of interaction on Dreamfall, i'm curious what kind of interaction do you think that will make the game better ?

Do you mean interacting with the environment ?
like opening drawer, door, physic on props etc..etc... at the same level as Fallout 3 for example, is that the kind of interaction you're looking for ?

All of the above, really. There weren't too many things to pick up or use, it was very minimalistic in my opinion. Character interaction was fine but more is always better Also, more to explore would've been nice.

I did get Fallout 3 but haven't gotten far in it. Not a huge fan of rpgs, they have waaaaaaaaaaay too much dialogue for me lol

[jhetfield21]

i have pretty much read the whole thread trying to find out more about dreamfall since i've never played it.i can't say anything more about the game even after reading this thread apart from it might turn me off like Hannes said(gameplay mostly) but i'd like to give my opinion about the debate of AGs and progress.
i play nearly anything.i've been playing games from nearly all genres for years.but i've always liked the AG genre for what it offered me.at least from the games of the AG genre that i've played.it offered me,like Hannes said, artistic graphics which i liked very much,interesting stories and above all the ability to play something casually.when i say casually i mean sit back relax and use the point and click system to do pretty much anything in the game.you can say i'm lazy ,sth i won't deny, but i've linked that attribute with the genre.i'm not a religious AG player and i don't need to be.all i want is to play more of the games or more games like the games that made me look at this genre.personally i don't think that the genre needs to progress so much as booB proposes since if i wanted to play sth like an action adventure i'd play tomb rider and the like but i'm not and i'm thinking everyone else does too.if you think about it the reason they are not in the same category is because some people prefer point and click AGs to more console driven AGs and thus the genre of AG came to be different.but to be fair i think the least the developers can do is provide both ways.that way no one can complain.and it can be done with not so much difficulty and it has already been done in some games.
i also don't think 3D to be bad and all but i haven't seen a 3D AG game that will make me so happy as the 2D and 2.5D games(with or without 3D character models) i've played(at AGs).it's not that i don't like 3D,i play 3D games everyday.it's just that so far i don't think 3D gives the best feeling.and like Hannes said this is entertainment for me i don't really wish for realism that much.not that i would deny a good game if it had what it needed to captivate me.
anyway,i play the genre because i like what i've played so far and thus i'd like it to remain as it is.any surprise on that is welcome as long as it captivates me.

[noknowncure]

Originally Posted by potan

Do you mean interacting with the environment ?
like opening drawer, door, physic on props etc..etc... at the same level as Fallout 3 for example, is that the kind of interaction you're looking for ?

Interactivity, or lack thereof, in games - of all genres - is becoming something of a frustration for me. The success of open world sandbox games has put developers in a mindset where bigger = better. Unfortunately, this means we end up with enormous, yet ultimately, largely empty worlds to explore.

For exploration to be fun, there have to be things to find, otherwise you're left with the majority of gameplay consisting of walk/drive/fly to the opposite end of the world, initiate a conversation, then walk/drive/fly to the next destination.

Empty worlds end up feeling like vacuums, albeit lovingly rendered vacuums. I'd much rather developers concentrated on filling space with activities, quests, characters, whatever, instead of insisting on creating yet more space to traverse.

Action based games are lucky, in that they can trigger events within locations by spawning enemies and the like. Adventure Games don't typically have this luxury, but I wish they'd come up with an equivalent list of 'things to do.'

[jhetfield21]

yeah trigger events don't exist in the many of adventure games out there but it doesn't mean it can't be done.i don't believe the way they make them in rpg's is any different from the way they could be done in adventure games.it's just something like a bounting box in the end.whatever steps inside triggers an event.and it's not like they are that difficult to calculate amongst other things.

[Gledster]

Just to add to the speculation regarding a continuation of TLJ series, I did ask RagnarTornquist on Twitter if they were ever going to return to the series and got a simple "Yes." back.

Links below (just in case there's some "proof or it didn't happen" folks around!) :

My Tweet

Ragnar's reply (warning, HUGE anticlimax).

As for whether Dreamfall improved on TLJ or not, I'm torn. I thoroughly enjoyed the game but I do believe the fighting and stealth elements were...clunky for want of a better word. I appreciated their inclusion in the game but they could've been more refined somehow, especially the fighting sections.

As for the lack of interaction criticism, I definitely felt that towards the end of the game and was a little gutted to be honest. However, it was the story that kept the game going and I will be waiting patiently for the next installment should one arrive.

[Thorn]

As the way The Whispered World seems to be going; the in game video is looking like a bad version of The Sims...

I'm thinking Funcom is looking at another BIG flop.

Especially with World of Darkness now coming out-- Whispered World's small chance in winning members because of a H.P. Lovecraft setting is kind of doomed because of this...

I'm not sure they'll have the resources after The Whispered World.

I foresee a big crash, and it saddens me greatly...

Hopefully TLJs fanbase is large enough to save it.

[Gledster]

Originally Posted by Thorn

As the way The Whispered World seems to be going; the in game video is looking like a bad version of The Sims...

I'm thinking Funcom is looking at another BIG flop.

Especially with World of Darkness now coming out-- Whispered World's small chance in winning members because of a H.P. Lovecraft setting is kind of doomed because of this...

I'm not sure they'll have the resources after The Whispered World.

I foresee a big crash, and it saddens me greatly...

Hopefully TLJs fanbase is large enough to save it.

You meant The Secret World right? Link to official site. The Whispered Word IS an adventure game but has little to do with TLJ!

[Thorn]

HAHA OOPS!
Yes, so sorry!!! I always mix the two XD