How to act.

syntheticgerbil · 01-25-2005, 10:19 PM

Okay, it's obvious that even adventure fans have a problem with the genre as of late seeing all of the redundant threads here of the same disguised back and forth discussion. Some still stick by the traditional adventure, but the general consensus is that the adventure is growing stale to almost all of its hardcore fans and developers better think of something soon or the fan base might rift into two parts.

So how do we tell developers what we want? Simply don't buy adventure games.

Well, I mean don't buy adventure games that you didn't immediatly get excited about. If it looks like another game with gothy pretty scenery, awkward dialogue, and some faux serious drama, don't get it. Don't give the genre the benefit of the doubt. Let the developers try harder to wow us. Regurgitation isn't cool. What we are doing is like what people do when they keep buying some musician's new CD even though they lost all their need to actually be creative back in 1983, since everything they put out since then, not matter how much it sucks, will still be bought by gullible and faithful fans. (Ahem... U2)

Isn't that what the genre is supposed to do? Give us a rich new world to escape in? Well I don't know how new any of these new games are to you, but frankly, the only thing I escape in lately is poor production.

So just stop buying the games that you might or might not enjoy. Wait for good reviews from non adventure sites. (good non adventure sites... try idlethumbs(now pay me my divendends(I mean it)))

Don't buy Runaway 2. It's obvious that it will be awful. Some people like the first game, some people hated it, but most people were not impacted by it any which way. That's a big problem. Don't spend money on a short breeze in the wind (excuse the metaphor), even if it does supposively show support for the genre. Yet, the genre doesn't need support. Someone will make adventure games even without fans. It happens in all genres, even outside of games. That's the way it goes. And hell, even still one game might emerge that would blow our faces clean off from just putting the CD in.

Like the old Man Murray review said, the adventure game killed itself. Except he was wrong. It hasn't killed itself. It's more like one of those whiny adolescents who keeps slitting its wrists for attention from its friends and parents. Oh woe is me adventure game.

Only thing is, I don't know what to do about the Walmart shoppers who waste their money on them...

LauraMac · 01-25-2005, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Oh woe is me adventure game.

Haha That is funny...

But I will buy any adventure game that marginally interests me - I guess I am just a perennial lover of an underdog

crabapple · 01-25-2005, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by syntheticgerbil

Only thing is, I don't know what to do about the Walmart shoppers who waste their money on them...

60,000 Walmart shoppers can't be wrong...

Intrepid Homoludens · 01-25-2005, 10:31 PM

I'd buy any game that interests me as well, that is also of a high quality.

Intrepid Homoludens · 01-25-2005, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crabapple

60,000 Walmart shoppers can't be wrong...

Of course, it's possible that 59,837 of them bought the game on impulse, tried it out, and hated it or got bored to death of it and are instead using the cd as a coaster (because they couldn't return the game or didn't bother to). But according to Walmart's stats, ALL 60,000 of them love adventure games.

syntheticgerbil · 01-25-2005, 10:51 PM

I can't even imagine why. Watch people at Walmart and try to stereotype them with who you might think they are. Suddenly they pick up the most idiotic pieces of consumerist plastic that doesn't at all correlate with their vibes.

Antoinetta · 01-25-2005, 11:25 PM

"And hell, even still one game might emerge that would blow our faces clean off from just putting the CD in." Posted by syntheticgerbil

Only one game has ever done this, the original Myst...which was subsequently blamed by many for the so-called "death of the genre."

Antoinetta

Intrepid Homoludens · 01-25-2005, 11:26 PM

LOL!! Ironic, isn't it?

*Jake* · 01-26-2005, 12:09 AM

The mostly-horrible-with-a-couple-good-exceptions-that-prove-the-rule ass FMV game explosion that followed Myst and the 7th Guest are probably more likely "causes of death" than Myst and the 7th Guest themselves. If there's anything in the history of PC gaming that would loudly and over-hypededly give a terrible impression to the growing gaming audience as to what storytelling and exploration in games is, the mid-90's bad FMV game rush is definitely a contender. At least for me.

Bad acting, bad stories, bad graphics, bad puzzles, bad gameplay control, and seemingly bottomless marketing budgets for these atrocities surely made for a terrible first impression for first time multimedia PC owners. What game came with my first CD drive? Monkey Island 1. A couple years later what were people getting? "Welcome to PC gaming, here's your free copy of The Daedalus Encounter."

But um, yeah. Ignore me, listen to the Gerbil.

Erwin_Br · 01-26-2005, 03:41 AM

Tia Carrera!

--Erwin

colpet · 01-26-2005, 04:59 AM

There was a time when I would buy all adventure games. Now I buy only those I think I know I'll like or I think I'll like. The trouble is that many of us still really like the traditional games, and will still provide a market for them.

It's not like I have lots of alternatives anyway, since other genres hold no appeal to me. Games don't have to wow me with something new - they just have to provide some hours of fun, escapism, and puzzle solving. Anything that does that for me is a good game.

Wormsie · 01-26-2005, 05:03 AM

Let's see... The last new adventure game I bought was Broken Sword 3. Before that, Gabriel Knight 3 and TLJ. EDIT: And EMI, of course. After buying EMI I got cautious - a bad LucasArts game, WTF?! Where's the genre going?

I know that the next adventure game I will buy is going to be Dreamfall. I'm not at all interested in Fahrenheit. Also, I will buy Psychonauts, because it's by Tim, but it's a platformer...

01-25-2005, 10:19 PM	#1
syntheticgerbil Banned User Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Rubbish Posts: 535	How to act. Okay, it's obvious that even adventure fans have a problem with the genre as of late seeing all of the redundant threads here of the same disguised back and forth discussion. Some still stick by the traditional adventure, but the general consensus is that the adventure is growing stale to almost all of its hardcore fans and developers better think of something soon or the fan base might rift into two parts. So how do we tell developers what we want? Simply don't buy adventure games. Well, I mean don't buy adventure games that you didn't immediatly get excited about. If it looks like another game with gothy pretty scenery, awkward dialogue, and some faux serious drama, don't get it. Don't give the genre the benefit of the doubt. Let the developers try harder to wow us. Regurgitation isn't cool. What we are doing is like what people do when they keep buying some musician's new CD even though they lost all their need to actually be creative back in 1983, since everything they put out since then, not matter how much it sucks, will still be bought by gullible and faithful fans. (Ahem... U2) Isn't that what the genre is supposed to do? Give us a rich new world to escape in? Well I don't know how new any of these new games are to you, but frankly, the only thing I escape in lately is poor production. So just stop buying the games that you might or might not enjoy. Wait for good reviews from non adventure sites. (good non adventure sites... try idlethumbs(now pay me my divendends(I mean it))) Don't buy Runaway 2. It's obvious that it will be awful. Some people like the first game, some people hated it, but most people were not impacted by it any which way. That's a big problem. Don't spend money on a short breeze in the wind (excuse the metaphor), even if it does supposively show support for the genre. Yet, the genre doesn't need support. Someone will make adventure games even without fans. It happens in all genres, even outside of games. That's the way it goes. And hell, even still one game might emerge that would blow our faces clean off from just putting the CD in. Like the old Man Murray review said, the adventure game killed itself. Except he was wrong. It hasn't killed itself. It's more like one of those whiny adolescents who keeps slitting its wrists for attention from its friends and parents. Oh woe is me adventure game. Only thing is, I don't know what to do about the Walmart shoppers who waste their money on them... Share Share this post on Twitter

01-25-2005, 10:31 PM	#4
Intrepid Homoludens merely human Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Chicago Posts: 22,309	I'd buy any game that interests me as well, that is also of a high quality. Share Share this post on Twitter __________________ platform: laptop, iPhone 3Gs \| gaming: x360, PS3, psp, iPhone, wii \| blog: a space alien \| book: the moral landscape: how science can determine human values by sam harris \| games: l.a.noire, portal 2, brink, dragon age 2, heavy rain \| sites: NPR, skeptoid, gaygamer \| music: ray lamontagne, adele, washed out, james blake \| twitter: a_space_alien

01-25-2005, 10:51 PM	#6
syntheticgerbil Banned User Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Rubbish Posts: 535	I can't even imagine why. Watch people at Walmart and try to stereotype them with who you might think they are. Suddenly they pick up the most idiotic pieces of consumerist plastic that doesn't at all correlate with their vibes. Share Share this post on Twitter

01-25-2005, 11:25 PM	#7
Antoinetta Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 339	"And hell, even still one game might emerge that would blow our faces clean off from just putting the CD in." Posted by syntheticgerbil Only one game has ever done this, the original Myst...which was subsequently blamed by many for the so-called "death of the genre." Antoinetta Share Share this post on Twitter

01-25-2005, 11:26 PM	#8
Intrepid Homoludens merely human Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Chicago Posts: 22,309	LOL!! Ironic, isn't it? Share Share this post on Twitter __________________ platform: laptop, iPhone 3Gs \| gaming: x360, PS3, psp, iPhone, wii \| blog: a space alien \| book: the moral landscape: how science can determine human values by sam harris \| games: l.a.noire, portal 2, brink, dragon age 2, heavy rain \| sites: NPR, skeptoid, gaygamer \| music: ray lamontagne, adele, washed out, james blake \| twitter: a_space_alien

01-26-2005, 12:09 AM	#9
Jake The Dartmaster Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: San Rafael, California Posts: 3,084	The mostly-horrible-with-a-couple-good-exceptions-that-prove-the-rule ass FMV game explosion that followed Myst and the 7th Guest are probably more likely "causes of death" than Myst and the 7th Guest themselves. If there's anything in the history of PC gaming that would loudly and over-hypededly give a terrible impression to the growing gaming audience as to what storytelling and exploration in games is, the mid-90's bad FMV game rush is definitely a contender. At least for me. Bad acting, bad stories, bad graphics, bad puzzles, bad gameplay control, and seemingly bottomless marketing budgets for these atrocities surely made for a terrible first impression for first time multimedia PC owners. What game came with my first CD drive? Monkey Island 1. A couple years later what were people getting? "Welcome to PC gaming, here's your free copy of The Daedalus Encounter." But um, yeah. Ignore me, listen to the Gerbil. Share Share this post on Twitter

01-26-2005, 03:41 AM	#10
Erwin_Br Under pressure. Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Apeldoorn, The Netherlands Posts: 3,773	Tia Carrera! --Erwin Share Share this post on Twitter __________________ > Learn more about my forthcoming point & click adventure: Bad Timing! > Or... Visit Adventure Developers: Everything about developing adventure games.

01-26-2005, 04:59 AM	#11
colpet Easily amused Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,091	There was a time when I would buy all adventure games. Now I buy only those I think I know I'll like or I think I'll like. The trouble is that many of us still really like the traditional games, and will still provide a market for them. It's not like I have lots of alternatives anyway, since other genres hold no appeal to me. Games don't have to wow me with something new - they just have to provide some hours of fun, escapism, and puzzle solving. Anything that does that for me is a good game. Share Share this post on Twitter __________________ Occasionally visiting Uru Live (KI 00637228). Last edited by colpet; 01-26-2005 at 05:05 AM.

01-26-2005, 05:03 AM	#12
Wormsie Doctor Watson Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: The Catacombs Posts: 4,736	Let's see... The last new adventure game I bought was Broken Sword 3. Before that, Gabriel Knight 3 and TLJ. EDIT: And EMI, of course. After buying EMI I got cautious - a bad LucasArts game, WTF?! Where's the genre going? I know that the next adventure game I will buy is going to be Dreamfall. I'm not at all interested in Fahrenheit. Also, I will buy Psychonauts, because it's by Tim, but it's a platformer... Share Share this post on Twitter __________________ Don't worry, I'm a doctor.

User Name		Remember Me?
Password