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Adventure Game Aspects in Non-Adventure Games
Hello! My name is J Gray and I’m a new staff member here at Adventure Gamers. So, to jump right into the deep end, I have a question.
What’s the best examples you’ve seen of adventure game elements being used to enhance games in other genres? What’s the worst examples?
Going back to the PSOne, for example, I feel that the Fear Effect series made good use of narrative elements and unique puzzles as accents that enhanced the games and feel as if they honestly, truly need to be completed in order to advance the game.
On the other hand, in both Mass Effect 1 and 2 the puzzles, both in minigame form and the hydraulic gate type puzzles felt tacked on, repetative, and useless.
What’s your call?
I love how the Uncharted games has a few puzzles mixed in with the otherwise action-oriented gameplay with all the shooting. It really enhances those games and I wish more AAA-games would make use of that.
A good example of an adventure game puzzle in a non-adventure game is a side quest from The Knights of the Old Republic. There’s one instance where a person has been found dead (shot) and two others are the suspects (one of which is wounded), and your Jedi wisdom is called upon to hear them out and deduct what really transpired. It was mainly dialogue-based and you had to actually find contradictions in what was being claimed, some of which required actual thought (and you could of course F up the entire thing and get a completely false result and accuse the wrong man).
It was a nice break from the otherwise pretty action-packed game, and its the best example of an adventure game puzzle in a non-adventure game that I can think of…
Edit: you can find it in this “Let’s Play”. It continues here and here.
The guy playing doesn’t get the best result…
The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka
Dark Corners of the Earth
Best lovecraftian game.First hour of the game just builds atmosphere
with exploration and investigation and without any fights.
Dark Earth
Great oldie, with great exploration adv elements and bad combat.
Omikron
The adventure parts were ambitious and way better than melee fighting and Gunfights
Torment
Heavy on AG elements with lots of story.
I liked the adventure game-like sections between the puzzle stages in Catherine - chatting to friends and other regulars at the bar, with some branching dialogue options. The game’s a bizarre mish-mash of contrasting gameplay elements, but I thought it made for a greater experience than the sum of its parts - it provided a narrative impetus to press through the somewhat repetitive levels; I guess I’m not much into playing just for scores & trophies alone, anymore! (The depictions of gender were rather questionable, though.)
Other than that, I’ve enjoyed the visual novel framing devices in games throughout the years, such as Rival Schools, Ridge Racer Type 4, and Trauma Center: Second Opinion.
A strong presence of adventure game elements is one of the few reasons I’ll be drawn towards more mainstream action-based games, these days.
EDIT: Err I realized I think I respnded to wrong thread with my original. Weird.
Hmm I find the title a bit peculiar, I feel like virtually all games ‘borrow” adventure aspects, particularly RPGs and such. Isn’t classic PnP adventure in many ways a stripping of extra unneeded gameplay in favor of better puzzles and great story?
But to try to address the question: I’d agree with Call of Cthulu, at least before the shooty bits begin, it really had a FPS adventure game vibe. I’d also throw in Zeldas which, aside from the main quests and dungonering, often have some kind of a “find item x, give to character A to trade for item Y to give to character y… etc” element. I liked how it was handled in Zelda: Link’s Awakaning, the original one on Gameboy.
Also, LA Noire is a nice mix between adventure-y and investigatory. Tho my only complaint is how formulaic the gameplay become with each case feeling almost the same in how you approached it.
Some jrpgs will use adventure game elements. A good example is persona 4 golden. This game is part adventure game, jrpg and a dating sim.
I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.
It gets tricky, because i think if a game really uses adventure elements well, we’re likely to consider it an adventure game. Its when it feels repetitive and not fleshed out that we dont let it define the game. L.A. noire is a good example because it is first and foremost a shooting/sandbox-ish game, but it does such a good job with its narrative, exploration, and mystery solving driven play that we accept it as an adventure. And really just about any first person sandbox rpg-ish game you can think of has adventure-like elements, just usually it doesnt shine.
It gets tricky, because i think if a game really uses adventure elements well, we’re likely to consider it an adventure game. Its when it feels repetitive and not fleshed out that we dont let it define the game. L.A. noire is a good example because it is first and foremost a shooting/sandbox-ish game, but it does such a good job with its narrative, exploration, and mystery solving driven play that we accept it as an adventure. And really just about any first person sandbox rpg-ish game you can think of has adventure-like elements, just usually it doesnt shine.
Its not shooter centric, iirc you can skip shooting scenes, action scenes altogether if you fail, it gives option.
And shooting scenarios themselves are sporadic.
However, investigation, interrogation, exploration etc. cant be skipped, and whole cases hinges upon your final decision, which is informed again by adventure game elements, travelling, exploring, gathering clues by investigating crime scenes and interacting with NPCs etc.
. Tho my only complaint is how formulaic the gameplay become with each case feeling almost the same in how you approached it.
Was inspired by The Shield and Southland, hence the same structure of TV series.
crap i want to play dark earth again. i miss that game so much. adventure rpg hybrids with bad combat elements are the best!!! qfg forever!!! lol
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