[Adventurere No.1]

when i read the Aggie Awards and found that Book of Unwritten Tales is almost mentoned pretty much every category i thought (Just My Opinion) that it doesnt worth ALL that praising ,yeaah it its a big production Adventure with all the elements of a great game Animation,Voiceovers and graphics ....etc ,..but i thought (Again just my opinion) there are some others indies with low production ;like:-
to the moon,Gemini Rue even the remake of VOB are much much more worthy,
anyways i will not get into this topic as it needs a special thread to dicuss it FAIRLY...

The point is, that through my 30 years of adventuring i came across many titles that were neglected or at least were not praised as the way they should, games that i am sure they will never be mentioned a the AG's scene of the week!! then i felt (knew) that there are 100's readers here could share me that opinion also.

So here i go, i will mention some of those that i can remember and maybe you would too:

Manhunter 1,2 were such great games in the early years of adventures, i admit they were odd and totally different from the big shots of Sierra (PQ,KQ,LSL) and LucasArts (Manic Mansion,Monkey Island,Indiana Jones) i myself turned off the 1st part when i tried just 1 min of it but when the 2nd came out (and those day a 2nd part for any game meant a big succes for the 1st not like NOW Developers making a triolgy plan from start) i played them both and since then i learnt a lesson; NOT to judge any game unless i tried it all through the way.

2nd i would like to mention (and it might be a shock) Les Manely 1(ONLY) ,also this game was such fun and great, yeah it was compared to LSL at the time and no one cared for an Adventure out of ACCOLADE ..but this game meant much fun for me.

and as for Perry Rhodan, which i know it was kindda Praised ,but not Enough not even close to what it is. as i must say that this game is the only one that came very close to to be a great SciFi Adventure Game as Blade Runner.

As also for Myst 4(Revelation) i see when people talk about the series they always mention (Big Time) Myst and Riven (which there are no Doubt about them both) but i am sure that Revelation is such a great one too and if i want to put the five Myst(s) in Order , i would choose ; Rven,Revelation,Myst,Exile,End of ages.

I know there are other games out there that some indviduals love them but they are just not a Big Shot for the mass players, so may we can help each others or maybe just me and remind or mentioned games that didnt have the credits and the praising they should had.

[WitchOfDoubt]

A lot of this may depend on where you live. Some titles that are justifiably praised in some parts of the world may be completely unknown elsewhere - possibly even untranslated! I've heard great things about The Abbey of Crime (La AbadĂ*a del Crimen), but only decades after it came out. Elsewhere on these boards people have recommended Maupiti Island; as an American player, I'd never heard of it!

Even if it contained some truly frustrating design decisions, like the race against time near the end, Rama was an amazingly atmospheric game and deserves to be played. It was science fiction worthy of the name, full of cool ideas and possessing all of the sense of scale and wonder that the first Ringworld game failed to capture.

I think that some of the Infocom titles need more love - Trinity isn't as well-known as it deserves to be, nor is Plundered Hearts, which some reviewers thought was too short and easy, but turned out to be far ahead of its time.

[cbman]

Originally Posted by Adventurere No.1

when i read the Aggie Awards and found that Book of Unwritten Tales is almost mentoned pretty much every category i thought (Just My Opinion) that it doesnt worth ALL that praising ,yeaah it its a big production Adventure with all the elements of a great game Animation,Voiceovers and graphics ....etc

Unfortunately, the genre is so moribund and ignored by anyone other than indie developers that just a game with professional (not even necesarily high) production values will be hailed as one of the 'games of the year', even if it is totally unoriginal in every way. I increasingly think these Broken sword style games are dead in the water. They haven't moved on at all in the last ten years. Since 2000 there has been more or less no tweaking with the formula, except for making things like hotspot finders and help systems common. Syberia or Still Life or the Black Mirror would have been exactly the same had they come out in 2011, except for having higher resolution graphics. I know that nostalgics don't want anything original but the rest of the gaming world would like to see more progression. Well, I would, at the very least.

I've been playing Lost Horizon; it's fine and it looks nice but its basically just Broken Sword, like a hundred other adventure games i've played. People got sick of Myst clones; will they eventually tire of this clone type too? Well, the wider gaming world did a long time ago, which is why these games are now just a niche.

So for me games like Stacking, Amnesia etc are underrated amongst AG players because they are trying to DO something different with this tired old Adventure game formula and people should be singing their praises to the Heavens. But they rave about games like the one you mentioned instead. In all honesty I am bored to tears by that formula.

[cbman]

Originally Posted by Adventurere No.1

As also for Myst 4(Revelation) i see when people talk about the series they always mention (Big Time) Myst and Riven (which there are no Doubt about them both) but i am sure that Revelation is such a great one too and if i want to put the five Myst(s) in Order , i would choose ; Rven,Revelation,Myst,Exile,End of ages.

I think you have this spot on. I never understood why Revelation didn't get the due it deserved from Myst fans. Personally, I think it is because it wasn't made by Cyan and fans feel brand loyalty to them. But it is definately second only to Riven and even that it gives a run for its money. What i always say is that Riven was the gameplay masterpiece of the Myst series and Revelation is the story masterpiece. I always kind of wish that people who dismiss the Myst games as having no story could play it.

I agree 100% with your sequencing of the games.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by Adventurere No.1

when i read the Aggie Awards and found that Book of Unwritten Tales is almost mentoned pretty much every category i thought (Just My Opinion) that it doesnt worth ALL that praising ,yeaah it its a big production Adventure with all the elements of a great game Animation,Voiceovers and graphics ....etc ,..but i thought (Again just my opinion) there are some others indies with low production ;like:-
to the moon,Gemini Rue even the remake of VOB are much much more worthy,
anyways i will not get into this topic as it needs a special thread to dicuss it FAIRLY...

I agree with you on BOUT, but to me Gemini Rue was just as average and To The Moon was just plain bad. They aren't neglected at all - overrated if anything.

Looking back on 2011, Portal 2 and LA Noire probably were the best games of the year. But my other favourite games of 2011 were totally neglected in the aggies, which isn't surprising. Blue Madonna, LHOD and Baron Wittard aren't attention grabbers, you can't easily categorize them. They don't have exciting topics like a futuristic thriller about global warming, or comedic journey through fantasy realms, or gritty Blade Runner-esque cyberpunk adventure. Those are the topics that win awards. I think that's why something like the very amateurish Alpha Polaris got much more attention in the aggies than those three games. An adventure set in the arctic with bears advertises itself, a part-time detective in a rural swedish town doesn't.

It surprised me that the incredibly average and tedious Black Mirror 3 got so many nominations and votes, but then I considered it was made by a well established developer with a big publisher behind it. It would be interesting to see with the readers' choice award how many people have played the games on the list compared with how many votes they got. I suspect BM3 got so much attention simply because so many people played it.

[Arial Type]

Well, my signature says it all: Simon the Sorcerer 3D is, in my opinion, one of the most cruelly betrayed gems of adventure gaming. There are reasons for this, of course, and I myself managed to finish it only recently due to some bugs. But still with all this hype for blocky Minecraft I feel bad for Simon, which was blamed so much for its dated graphics 10 (!) years ago, and so little attention was payed to the wonderful writing and experimenting with 3D. This and Dark Corners of the Earth - another underrated adventure and a spark of light among resident evil clones - were the best games Woodroffes produced in all their 30 years history. It's a shame that they also led to a bankrupt.

[aimless]

Oscar, I can't say I often agree with you, especially about BoUT, but about LHOD, Society of the Serpent Moon, I definitely do. Bill Fisher always makes a good game (his Zojir is even better than this one, IMO) and I always marvel that he does it as a one man band. Actually, I was surprised and pleased to see Serpent Moon nominated at all. Funny thing is, Bill didn't know it. I think he's working on an RPG now, darn it.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by aimless

Oscar, I can't say I often agree with you, especially about BoUT, but about LHOD, Society of the Serpent Moon, I definitely do. Bill Fisher always makes a good game (his Zojir is even better than this one, IMO) and I always marvel that he does it as a one man band. Actually, I was surprised and pleased to see Serpent Moon nominated at all. Funny thing is, Bill didn't know it. I think he's working on an RPG now, darn it.

Really? I'd like him to keep doing LHOD games but this RPG should be interesting, at the very least. Imagine if we got a QFG type of gameplay merged with the spooky LHOD world!

[aimless]

Oooo, Bloodlust Vampire. He's already got a demo of the game on his website. I wish I were any good at RPGs. Rats.

(Sorry, I promise no more about RPGs on this forum.)

[Adventurere No.1]

Originally Posted by cbman

So for me games like Stacking, Amnesia etc are underrated amongst AG players because they are trying to DO something different with this tired old Adventure game formula and people should be singing their praises to the Heavens. But they rave about games like the one you mentioned instead. In all honesty I am bored to tears by that formula.

Too bad that i hadnt play both games you mentntioned ,though i am dying for Stacking PC release (if there will ever be one,i dont really know!)
but i totally agree on some formula changes to the adventure games, you had mentioned also "no tweaking with the formula, except for making things like hotspot finders and help systems"
i would like to add also that Perry Rhodan had 2 New (Original) Formulas that i wish to find in every Adventure, (if you remember) there was this innovative interface with using inventory objects as a dialouge option, and 2nd for the standerd inventory interface you dont have to scroll between inventory pages,they all always show down there at the bottom of the screen
(whether they were compacted or stretched)

i know that 3d-io only had this one game Immortals of Terra: A Perry Rhodan Adventure , but it was published by deep Silver and they have a long term at publishing adventures which makes them also responsible for those games final outlook.

anyways i think mentioned before that developers need our help or at least they need some sort of interaction maybe here through AG page to get feedback or ideas about how and which things players (technically) liked or want them to change.
i hope somebody their would listen, anyways.

[SamandMax]

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon seems to be remembered fondly but I don't think it ever gets proper credit as a legitimate classic, which it absolutely is.

Police Quest: Open Season as well is a game which seems to get written off often but really is quite fantastic, especially if you love dark, hard-boiled mysteries.

[Fien]

Yeah, the two Manhunters were different from the other Sierra games. I found them intriguing, especially the first one. Loved tracking people. I know it sounds strange, but the dead bodies creeped me out. We hadn't seen any of the real horror stuff in games at the time.

Interesting that Trinity got mentioned. Very good game, one of my favorite text adventures of all time. But I seem to remember it was appreciated by most people.

Here's my highly personal list of games I feel are not praised enough.

TimeQuest - Stupid Invaders - Duckman - Temujin - In the 1st Degree - The Path - Edna and Harvey - UFOs - Blue Heat - The Case of the Cautious Condor - Isabelle.

There's more where this came from.

[rottford]

Urban Runner. Sure, the game had a few illogical puzzles, but it's one of the most suspenseful AGs I've ever played. I know many complain about FMV games, but the FMV really pulls you into the story in this one.

I'm guessing the game got little recognition simply because Sierra did a poor job marketing and distributing it in most regions of the United States. I recall seeing it prominently displayed on shelves while on vacation in Belgium when it released, but it didn't make it to stores in Chicago until months later. And when it arrived, it was thrown in the bargain bin with a $10 price tag.

[Mad Manny]

I never really understood why Dirty Split didn't make HUGE headlines across every gaming website, sure it got some praise but if you ask a random gamer if he heard about Dirty Split then the answer is no.

It's a combination of really enjoyible game with really cool graphics, AND it's made by ONE guy, AND it's FREE!!

[Arial Type]

Originally Posted by rottford

Urban Runner. Sure, the game had a few illogical puzzles, but it's one of the most suspenseful AGs I've ever played. I know many complain about FMV games, but the FMV really pulls you into the story in this one.

As much as I love Coktel, I disliked this particular game very much. And not because it was a FMV game (the quality of FMV was excellent for its time), but because the actors were SO bad in their roles, that it looked like an amateurish student's film, with family/friends messing up everything. Also the timed and unrealistic puzzles were very frustrating, and the game was way too short and linear for four (I think) CDs. It's a pity this was the last Coktel adventure game though, they were doing so better without FMV/3D experiments...

[Dara100]

I agree about Stupid Invaders and Temujin and think that the Journeyman Project: Buried in Time series is much overlooked as is Drowned God and Myst Revelation IV.

[Zeno]

I think J. B. Harold Murder Club is a underrated game. The dos version at least is.

Recently I played this game for the first time and I am stuck. Maybe someone could help me. I have arrested everyone but Edward Rpbbins and I have collected 93 percent of the total evidence and 95 percent of the vital evidence.
The last piece of evidence I found was the blue contact lenses. Do you have to get Joe Carrington to admit he is Henry Klein? I tried that but so far have not had any luck. Any suggestions would be helpful on this.

[WitchOfDoubt]

Interesting that Trinity got mentioned. Very good game, one of my favorite text adventures of all time. But I seem to remember it was appreciated by most people.

It got critical acclaim for some time, but sold badly (or so I've heard.) The depressing box art was apparently a factor.

[Adventurere No.1]

i am shocked The Bizarre Adventures of Woodruff and the Schnibble had not been reviewed here at the AG Site, isnt that kindda of neglecting for such a great game

[MoonBird]

Oh, there are so many!
For example these:

• Broken Sword 2
• Dragonshpere
• Fairytale About Father Frost, Ivan And Nastya
• Gene Machine
• Gilbert Goodmate And The Mushroom Of Phungoria
• Ni.Bi.Ru - Age Of Secrets
• Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy
• Orion Conspiracy
• Return Of The Phantom
• Tony Tough And The Night Of Roasted Moths
• Undercover: Operation Wintersun