[diego]

1. Non-comfortable interface

Non existant double-click on screen edge for instant travel, not included option to skip line of a dialog, tiresome inventory system and item combining... This is not the cruical thing in order for game to be a good one, but little things can mean a lot in order to enjoy the game for what it is even better.

2. Game should be interesting from the very start

I'm not buying the "game will be better later on". Give me the reason from the very start to stay with the game. When i say "interesting", it doesn't mean to start with the chase or some action - but writing, gameplay, plot... should be clever from the beginning and hook you into the game world right from the start.


Once i'm comfortable with the interface, and the story and general "mood" of the game at the beginning hooks me in, i'll play it until many of the several other factors could prevent me from it - bad or non-existant puzzles, boring plot, bland characters without personality, boring dialogs, non-imaginative gameworld, locations, artwork...

[Weare6]

Originally Posted by mgeorge

My problem with the majority of AG's is that there're supposed to be about exploration and story. How much exploration do you usually see in an AG? Very little IMO. Most of them lead you through the nose from one static place to the next, looking for hotspots to solve inane puzzles that have very little bearing on the story.

Thats an interesting point. i find this to be true with lots of AG's I have played...
but there are some new titles coming out that might challenge that idea. (i hope)

[jannar85]

1) Game should be interesting from the very start
2) Poor or much unnesserary dialogue
3) Poor story

[mrLOL]

Originally Posted by marvio

Wow, Mrlol

It sounds like you don't like AG's at all.
I think everybody here would agree they would much rather be "eased" into the story, have tons of exploration whcih reveals characters/story little by little, then to have everything handed to them in the first 5 minutes; I mean, what would you do after that? AG's ARE ABOUT finding out the story after all

Ah you're missunderstanding me, I'm not talking about exposition or some sort of sizzler demo where they just throw all the good stuff at you from the beginning,

If for example a game has heavy story and you need to be eased into it (as you suggest) then my requirement is that they must within 5 minutes give me a reason why I should want to dwell deeper into the story, the games-industry motto that "if you're not willing to invest 3 hours of boredom into a game then you're just lazy and have short attention-span" worked in the good old days but now if games want to evolve then that just doesn't cut it any more.

Basically my point is the same as Diego's, if he manages to explain it better.

[dmouse097]

Originally Posted by aimless

As far as game design goes, I'm sure some purists wouldn't be happy but if the designers would take older people like me into account...you know, the ones who really like adventure games and spend money on them... and included an option to skip action sequences provided we genuflect three times toward the appropriate developers, I'd be much less inclined to blow off "action/adventures".

This is pretty much the reason I've never finished Indy3 -- the fighting was unnecessary to me. But I love Indy 4 (FOA) where any fight, unless you choose the fighting path, can be skipped by a sucker punch or just walking off the screen. One of my all-time favorite games.

[Gledster]

Originally Posted by dmouse097

This is pretty much the reason I've never finished Indy3 -- the fighting was unnecessary to me. But I love Indy 4 (FOA) where any fight, unless you choose the fighting path, can be skipped by a sucker punch or just walking off the screen. One of my all-time favorite games.

Hmmm.....Now you've made me think....For me the fighting in Indy 3 wasn't too bad as it fit within the Indy universe: Indy did (does?) get into a great many fights and the game reflected that. However, as you point out, Indy 4 also fit into the Indy universe but it also gave you a get out from the fight scenes. I don't know which I preferred and now I'm all confused!

[TimovieMan]

*bump*

I don't mind action sequences or timed sequences that much, but I'd prefer for them to be easy (like the shooting in Gemini Rue or the fighting in Dreamfall) or skippable (like the sucker punch from Fate of Atlantis). But I won't consider abandoning the game because of a few action sequences (I'd miss out on a lot of Full Throttle fun if I didn't persist there).

Stuff that has made me quit games in the past include (in no particular order):

- Death at every corner: I never played most of the Sierra classics because really, I don't like dying and restoring every three seconds. I played through the first Larry, but seriously, can't they just make you dodge the car and say "I'm not crossing the street, it's too dangerous" or go "I'm not going in there, that dark alley looks dangerous"? I think the first Larry and Phantasmagoria are the only two games where I saw the end credits...

- Dead ends: getting stuck now because I missed an object 5 hours ago in a place I can no longer visit WILL make me abandon the game. I never got to the end of Larry 2 because I missed some swimming trunks at the bottom of the pool on the cruise ship and I needed them on the island. Big no-no.

- Uninteresting story: I'll happily invest one or two hours in a game (or even more) before deciding whether or not I like the story, but if all a game does is bore me for its first hour, then I'm abandoning it. Paradise comes to mind.
I agree with one of the previous posters (diego?) that a game has to prove it's interesting early on, otherwise what's the point?

- Bugs and crashes: I'll ignore mediocre/bad game play, I'll ignore mediocre/bad story lines, I'll definitely ignore bad voice acting or bad/dated graphics, but if a game glitches every two seconds and crashes every five, then I'm not going to get far in it. Simon the Sorcerer 3D is a good example of this. I liked the humour, most of the puzzles (except the timed one) and didn't mind the lousy graphics, but the constant crashing made me quit at the start of the second chapter. Phantasmagoria also met a 5- or 6-year hiatus because it kept crashing at the dragon picture in the round room in chapter 5 or 6. I forgot how I got around this one, but I remember I had to mess with the game files in order to do so.
Luckily, this is becoming less and less of a problem thanks to internet access, patches and helpful forum members.


There's also a lot of older adventure games that I never finished because I got stuck on a puzzle. I'm talking the '90s here before I had internet access and thus walkthrough access. But I plan on replaying those that I found to be otherwise pretty good. I'm currently (re)playing several classics anyway, so I'll definitely add King's Quest VI (or VII?): The Princeless Bride and Zork: Nemesis to the list. I loved playing those two games but unfortunately never finished them...

I'm sure there are tons of other adventure games I never finished (for whatever reason that may have been), but I can't think of any right now...

[Schneckchen ^.^]

I've never actually abandoned a game because when I spend money on something I'm gonna beat it no matter how much I hate it lol. However, the things that would come closest are:

1: Environment recycling: To me there is no bigger sign of laziness on the developer's part than this. It completely takes away the sense of scale or adventure in a game when you constantly keep coming back to the same place. In adventure gaming I've recently mainly noticed this in the Sam & Max Telltale games. It got so repetitive talking to Bosco and Sybil EVERY single episode in the SAME screens. The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 (and "unrelatedly" Dragon Age 2) suffer heavily from this as well.

2: Bad controls/interface: Such as the controls in Gabriel Knight 3 or Dreamfall. Also, Requiring too many clicks to get an item from your inventory or using it with something. This can get pretty annoying but again, I'm way too stubborn to let this stop me from beating any game.

3: Lots of dry dialogue: Nothing wrong with lots of dialogue but please make it have some substance or humor.

Oh yeah and I HATE 'slider puzzles' too

[donatelli]

I'd have to say:

Poorly designed puzzles, specifically "mazes" -
Uninteresting, bland story
Lacking visual style

Honestly, I'd love to see more pre-rendered backgrounds. With the fidelity and quality of what can be done today, you could really have an amazing looking game. Black Mirror 2/3 are two fo the best looking adventure games, as well as say Gray Matter. It doesn't hurt that they have a great aesthetic to them. Anyone down on pre-rendered confuses me. They seem to be a great route for a more independent development team, and really let the designers focus on detail and style. It's a shame, to me, when some of these great games are hindered by poor graphics that really cheapen the potential.

[MoonBird]

How did I manage to miss this thread!?

Well, anyway, I have four immediate turn-offs:

1. Direct controlled-interface. It's a huge no-no.
2. Uninteractive gameworld, lack of hotspots to look at or interact with
3. Action elements, timed events.
4. Lack of subtitles. The game flies straight in the trashcan without them.

and there's also things I don't quite like, but they are not necessarilly ones that force me to throw up and close the game in the same instant:

1. Lack of voice acting. It depends strongly on the game.
2. Furious amount of backtracking (a little does not bother..)
3. "This doesn't work" -stock comments.
4. 3D presentation in general
5. Mountainous amount of minigames or lot of running involved.
6. Requirement of an internet connection or steam running in the background
7. Unadjustable dialoque speed without voice-acting.

[Gabe]

I think obvious reason for abandon is today a.games cant utilise possibilities of pc platform on both technical and artistic level like they were used to in 90's.Sadly pretty regressed genre...

[Oscar]

1. Not challenging enough - this has been the reason for abandoning numerous HOGs and Nancy Drew games.

2. Vapid, Hollywood-ized stories with vapid, Hollywood-ized presentation - Memento Mori and The Next Big Thing: take note

3. Games clearly based entirely on other games - Anyone didn't know what Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island was trying to copy within the first 2 minutes of playing? And while I like some Myst clones, most simply lack its soul.

[noknowncure]

1. Dead Ends - These should quite simply be considered bugs. It's because of appalling design and there's just no excuse for them.

2. Sloppy Production - I'll use this as a catch all term for poor writing, acting, artwork etc. I'm fine with stylistic choices - retro games for example - but when things are simply done poorly...

3. Tomás Gutiérrez - Tomás Gutiérrez was a Peruvian military man who led a coup against President José Balta Montero. From July 22, 1872 to July 26, 1872 Gutiérrez was the de facto leader of Peru and the self-proclaimed "Supreme Leader of the Republic." He was overthrown just four days after his proclamation and lynched. I think we can all agree any AG that doesn't contain at the very least a cursory reference to Tomás isn't worth our time.

[cbman]

Endless sub-quests / the story not developing as I solve puzzles. I lose patience with these kinds of games very quickly. I want either exploration (new areas of the game world), or relevant story development (no stopping to find character's pet for them so they will give me a key, unless that pet is relevant tot he main narrative) to sustain my interest. Unfortunately a lot of third person style games throw a large amount of this crap at you to make the game longer. I'm currently playing Everlight and it is full of this stuff, designed to maximize a tiny game world.


Endless dialogue that is not relevant to the game, especially when poorly written or badly translated. This is made even worse when there are no viewpoint changes ie an unchanged camera angle of two characters standing in front of a 2D backdrop for 5 minutes. Sorry, this is a video game, there needs to be something visual going on.

[cbman]

Originally Posted by donatelli

Poorly designed puzzles, specifically "mazes" -

The second part of that sentence, after the comma, is a non sequitor, bearing no relation to the first part.

May I suggest that you meant to write "Mazes, I don't like them".

[TimovieMan]

Poorly designed mazes?

[StingingVelvet]

Newbie here, thought this was a good place to start.

Mazes - Oh my do I hate mazes. Even a relatively easy maze like in The 7th Guest still infuriates me, let alone tougher ones. I guess I don't have the patience of it or lack a desire to write notes, but whatever the case a tough maze can make me give up on a game completely.

Dead Ends - I started adventure gaming with King's Quest V so while I know about Sierra deaths I was mostly spared the Sierra dead ends. When I try to play older adventure games with dead ends I usually stop playing when I hit one. I guess back in the day you wanted to stretch your $50 and get the replay value of a start-over, but today that just seems insane.

Boredom - The main problem with a lot of adventure games today is a lack of wit or interesting plotting. If it's a standard murder mystery with dry dialogue then chances are I will get bored relatively quickly and stop playing. I don't feel an intense desire to play every game I buy to the end; if I'm not enjoying myself I stop. A game like Secret Files for example can get so dry and plain that I get distracted and never go back.

Not on PC - I only play PC games. I don't have anywhere near the free time to play all the PC games I want to, let alone more. There are some DS games and iPad games and even some PS3 games I would really like to play, but not enough to invest in a whole other platform with my budget and free time.

Permanent Hotspot Highlighting - Weird one, but it really bugs me. Two examples recently were Jolly Rover and the Broken Sword "director's cut." Both had those flashing hints on the screen with no ability to turn them off. For one thing this removes the gameplay element of finding items and interesting things. For another it just annoys and distracts me visually with the little flashes constantly repeating.

[palilulac]

1. bad graphics (for example Syberia is a very old game but graphics are great, even if its released in 2002, so i enjoyed playing both first and second. Some new released games have a graphics which are worst than the games from the 80's)
2. games without puzzles or minigames
3. games with boring stories