[Eivind]

I believe that KQ1 was the first '3D' adventure. That is, where you can move your character on-screen, behind trees, rocks, etc.

[Bobske]

IMO one of the most innovating adventure games was Tex Murphy - Under A Killing Moon. A near perfect "marriage" of 3D graphics and FMV. The Pandora Directive added multiple paths and endings and was one of the few games that could truly claim to be replayable.

[ChronoSerge]

If you're looking for innovative adventure games, then you deffinately can't leave the classic sierra games out......Kings Quest 1 was the first true graphic adventure game and without it, there would be no lucas arts games :-P the Space Quest series was also innovative in it's humour that would inspire later humerous games like Monkey Island. The early Lucas Arts games were innovative as well for their SCUMM engine, and the first fully 3d adventure game Grim Fandango.

[After a brisk nap]

Deja Vu (1985) was, as far as I know, the first first-person adventure, the first adventure game with mouse support, the first point-and-click adventure, and the first window-based adventure. It clearly prefigures Under a Killing Moon, among others.

Below the Root (1984) is the first adventure game I've been able to find that uses a verb-selection interface, similar to SCUMM games (though in this case keyboard controlled).

Lure of the Temptress, in addition to the innovations listed, also came up with the interface we now usually call a "verb coin", which is really just a pop-up menu of interaction verbs.

[Agustin]

@Snarky

Very, very good choices. Save from honorable exceptions, few seem to realize the really innovative adventures were mostly underground games. I love Space Quest but let's be realistic, it wasn't groundbreaking in any way. I think Future Wars predates Lure Of The Temptress in the "verb coin" interface though.

Not as innovative or influential, but I'd add The Dark Eye - unsettling in the way it made you interact with your surroundings and characters. And Bad Day In The Midway. Pure genious!

[squarejawhero]

I dunno... SQ3 had some great cinematic presentation and a nearly open-ended universe.

[Fien]

Originally Posted by Agustin
Not as innovative or influential, but I'd add [i

The Dark Eye[/i] - unsettling in the way it made you interact with your surroundings and characters. And Bad Day In The Midway. Pure genious!

Absolutely. Although most games mentioned in this thread have not been all that "influential", in the sense that their novel ideas were copied.

I have yet to see another game which shows the thoughts of people in a kind of "stream of consciousness" format, like Bad Day on the Midway did.

[Bobske]

Originally Posted by Zack

2. Grim Fandango: The most innovative things about this game was that it used a Keyboard Only Interface

You think that was a good thing? IMO it was one of the worst game interfaces I have ever seen. The terrible interface was one of the reasons I disliked this game... Normally I don't really care about the interface or graphics or anything as long as the atmosphere is right. But with this game... It was back to the stone age!

I really got the feeling LA was turning into another direction; Consoles! Maybe that's the reason I really dislike this game...

[Ninth]

Originally Posted by Zack

2. Grim Fandango: The most innovative things about this game was that it used a Keyboard Only Interface

That's hardly innovative, seeing as it was the very same interface used in the earliest games.
In fact, Grim's interface reminded me of Eternam.

[Udvarnoky]

I don't think he was just referring to the fact that the keyboard is what you put your hands on the whole game.

[After a brisk nap]

Originally Posted by Zack

In my own opinion, I think my choices for most innovative graphic adventures are:

1. Blade Runner: For giving you the opportunity to play either a Blade Runner or a Replicant sympatheizer. Also the game was played in real-time, and the game characters ran their own lives. Also, the game had a bunch of different endings, too.

2. Grim Fandango: The most innovative things about this game was that it used a Keyboard Only Interface, and the game characters were skeletons instead of humans. If this game ever gets turned into a CGI movie by Tim Burton, or any other director, I'll definitely go see it.

3. The Last Express: This was probably the first real-time adventure game as some of the members said on their posts earlier. The fact that time actually moves on by in the game, and the game characters really move around the train is really cool, and it makes the game look very realistic.

4. The Pandora Directive: I chose this game over Under a Killing Moon, mainly
because it has multiple endings, which makes it very replayable. Plus, I found the story to be very mature and exciting. Oh, and the freedom of movement in the game has to be very groundbreaking for it's time.

Those are my choices for most innovative Graphic Adventures. I hope you guys like looking at this list.

Zack, are you sure you know what "innovative" means?

Blade Runner (1997) was hardly the first game that allowed your choices to define your personality and determine the final outcome. The Pandora Directive (1996) did pretty much the same just the year before, for starters. Westwood's earlier game, Kyrandia 3: Malcolm's Revenge (1994) allowed you to control Malcolm's attitude, which affected the path of the game. In Conquests of the Longbow (1993) your choices and actions determined what kind of an outlaw you were, and thus how you were judged at the end of the game. Even good old Fate of Atlantis (1992) let you choose what approach you wanted to take to the game, and thereby pick one of three paths (though they led to the same ending). I'm sure the list goes back further. Of course, real-time characters and multiple endings were nothing new in adventures at that point, either.

Grim Fandango's (1998) interface must really be characterized as un-ovation. It's a throwback to the keyboard control seen in the old Sierra AGI games. Shadow of the Comet (1993) was essentially identical in its interface. And skeletons instead of humans? That's your bar for innovation?

As has already been mentioned, The Last Express was certainly not the first real-time adventure game, though it was innovative in other ways.

The Pandora Directive is one of my favorite games, but I don't see how it's innovative. At all. Branching storylines and multiple endings were well established at that point, and if you're going to name the first "mature" adventure game (or graphic adventure), that should probably be Phantasmagoria (1995) unless there's an earlier contender. Everything else in the game Access did previously in Under a Killing Moon (1994).

[After a brisk nap]

Another classic game that probably was genuinely innovative:

The Secret of Monkey Island (1990) for its policy of no deaths*, no dead ends. If there was an earlier adventure game that did this, I don't know about it.

* Well, almost...

[oerhört]

Gregory Horror Show is another example of real-time adventure game, by the way. Pikmin also springs to mind, even though that's maybe more of a hybrid.

More innovative titles: the mentioned The Last Express, Little Big Adventure, Under A Killing Moon, Loom.

And soon: Fahrenheit.

[Ninth]

Originally Posted by Udvarnoky

I don't think he was just referring to the fact that the keyboard is what you put your hands on the whole game.

Neither was I.
It's the same interface, that's all. Eternam even had a line of sight concept : each time the hero saw a new objects, a dotted line appeared that linked him to it. Also, there was (ugly) 3D in it.
Awesome game, by the way, very original.

Originally Posted by squarejawhero

I dunno... SQ3 had some great cinematic presentation and a nearly open-ended universe.

This engine came first with KQ4, though.

[Kwiksnax]

Myst IV: If only for being the first DVD-only adventure game. It's a flagship for DVD ROM in the same way that Myst was a flagship for CD.

The interface isn't all that new, but the photo-realistic graphics complete with full-sphere viewpoint are way ahead of any potential competitors. I think this counts as one of the most innovative adventure games of all time simply due to its technical superiority.

Also, Gabriel Knight 3 definately deserves a mention. Its interface was one of a kind. You could examine everything in a given location, from any possible angle. The game really felt like an interactive detective novel.

[rtrooney]

I am going to define "most influental" as those that defined future games.

King's Quest 1 (the first post-stick figure, non text game from Sierra)

Phantasmagoria 1 (hated the game, but it was one of the first multiple-CD games that made sense in that format)

Myst (Hated it too, but it was the first "aura" game.) A whole genre followed it to the marketplace.

Timelapse (Think a bundle of time shift games evolved from this.)

Black Dahlia (The "film noir" game that defined all others.)

[Zack]

To Snarky, and the other members who commented about my earlier post, you have all made some very valid points, and I really appreciate it that you did.

The reason I thought the interface for Grim Fandango was innovative, is because it was the very first adventure game that I ever played that forced you to use the keyboard. I also didn't have many problems using the interface. I found it to be quite intuitive. The only problem I can think of is that I sometimes had to position Manny directly in front of the inventory item that I wanted to get him to pick up, whenever he suddenly walked to the side. As for Skeletons instead of humans, yes, I consider that innovative. In fact, I'm surprised that Snarky didn't consider the idea of a skeleton as the lead character to be innovative.

I guess I should've considered that Under A Killing Moon is more innovative than Pandora Directive, because now that I think about it, Pandora Directive had the same interface, but a new story. But, I don't own Under A Killing Moon anymore. I sold it a long time ago, because it was not running properly on my computer. So, I'll edit my earlier post, and delete Pandora Directive.

As for Last Express, I thought it was innovative, mainly baecause of the clock save system. It showed you what the current time was, and it allowed you to go back to replay an earlier event. Also, the characters walking around the train, doing whatever activity they could think of doing (especially the little boy, one thing he liked to do was visit the harem girls in their compartment), and even eating their food at dinnertime in the dining compartment. Plus, it just looked so real, so I think it should be considered an innovative game. But, you're welcome to disagree if you want.

I have rethought my ideas for most innovative games. they are Last Express, and Grim Fandango.If I ever play any more adventure games that definitely feel innovative, I'll let you guys know.

[Zack]

I deleted the message I wrote earlier this afternoon, in case you are wondering what happened to it, and I also wrote down the two adventure games I consider to be very innovative, along with my comments about your reactions to what I wrote earlier. I hope you guys enjoy reading the new message I made.

[McPickle]

Shenmue (Dreamcast)
First of all, is it an adventure game? For the purists it isn't but according to me, Shenmue is an adventure game which includes some aspects from every other kinds of games: character improvement, fights, rapid-action cutscenes, races, mini-games, gambling, day and night simulation... POINT FOR INNOVATION.
When I played this game, I was MOST of the time looking for clues to unsolve the mystery of Ryo's father, talking to the right NPC's at the right time and gathering various objects. I classify it in adventure because you need to use your grey matter to go further in the game.

I never managed to go through the whole game, after a while it becomes too repetitive