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discussion about modernizing/popularizing adventure games

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GateKeeper - 05 March 2021 10:57 AM
colpet - 05 March 2021 08:33 AM

I’ll put in my 2 cents in support of the very small population of members who prefer a puzzle laden exploratory type game - yes , the same old Myst -like, etc.

I am not the best expert on that subgenre, but what’s wrong with all those walking simulators?

They don’t have puzzles. Myst has puzzles. Colpet likes a “puzzle laden exploratory type game”.

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

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Karlok - 05 March 2021 11:06 AM
GateKeeper - 05 March 2021 10:57 AM
colpet - 05 March 2021 08:33 AM

I’ll put in my 2 cents in support of the very small population of members who prefer a puzzle laden exploratory type game - yes , the same old Myst -like, etc.

I am not the best expert on that subgenre, but what’s wrong with all those walking simulators?

They don’t have puzzles. Myst has puzzles. Colpet likes a “puzzle laden exploratory type game”.

By what/whose definition?

There are tons of games that are labelled/tagged both as puzzle games and walking simulators simultaneously, like the one that I linked to.

     
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GateKeeper - 05 March 2021 11:22 AM
Karlok - 05 March 2021 11:06 AM
GateKeeper - 05 March 2021 10:57 AM
colpet - 05 March 2021 08:33 AM

I’ll put in my 2 cents in support of the very small population of members who prefer a puzzle laden exploratory type game - yes , the same old Myst -like, etc.

I am not the best expert on that subgenre, but what’s wrong with all those walking simulators?

They don’t have puzzles. Myst has puzzles. Colpet likes a “puzzle laden exploratory type game”.

By what/whose definition?

By anybody’s definition. Puzzle games are by definition not walking sims.

There are tons of games that are labelled/tagged both as puzzle games and walking simulators simultaneously, like the one that I linked to.

I have played The Painscreek Killings. Have you?

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

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Karlok - 05 March 2021 10:21 AM

Colpet, have you played Eyes of Ara? It’s a Mystian game. You could also check out The Initiate and its sequel, not sure if you’d like them.

PS: I’m a bit surprised you didn’t enjoy Xing, it has great puzzles.

PPS: More recommendations: The Room series. Not what you’re looking for, but nice puzzle games.

I had trouble with the controls for Xing. It’s the jumping bit. The same thing happened with Uru. I’m a mouse control person. I have a programmable one, and that helps, but my aim/shakiness leaves much to be desired. Loved The Room games and Eyes of Ara. Will look into the Initiate.
Thanks for replying, Karlok. You know my tastes, and I appreciate the recommendations. I will give Xing another try.

GateKeeper - 05 March 2021 10:57 AM
colpet - 05 March 2021 08:33 AM

I’ll put in my 2 cents in support of the very small population of members who prefer a puzzle laden exploratory type game - yes , the same old Myst -like, etc.

I thought there should be a huge backlog of PC games waiting for me. No such luck.

So, for those of you who have enough of the old style games that you crave something new, I envy you.
I have not yet had enough of the my old favourite genre, and it appears to be dying out.

I am not the best expert on that subgenre, but what’s wrong with all those walking simulators?
The biggest difference is that unlike in Myst where you move between static screens by clicking, you actively control the protagonist to explore the world. Is that a problem there?

I have encountered more walking simulators than I can keep track of, so if that qualifies for exploration, then you really have a huge backlog to go through.

If you mean static screens exactly like Myst, well then I guess you have very little to go through. There are some

games like that, but I really can’t remember any very recent title right now.

There are games with “Myst-vibes” though, like The Painscreek Killings, I don’t know if that’s what you are looking for, but have you already played those?

Walking simulators do not exactly sound like what I am looking for. I don’t mind 3D movement, as long as I can use a mouse.  Karlok is right. I play for the puzzles and explore as part of the investigation. The world has to be one big puzzle - The Witness was a good example of that. I don’t just want to walk around, and I certainly don’t want to interact with characters. I need to do things- solve codes, flip switches, figure out how to get the power on, etc.
We all have our preferences, and mine are obviously more limited than most. The end result is that we want to play more of what we love, and it seems that it is getting harder to find.

     
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colpet - 05 March 2021 11:38 AM

I don’t just want to walk around, and I certainly don’t want to interact with characters. I need to do things- solve codes, flip switches, figure out how to get the power on, etc.
We all have our preferences, and mine are obviously more limited than most. The end result is that we want to play more of what we love, and it seems that it is getting harder to find.

Well, I don’t know your tastes, colpet, obviously Smile
But here’s a variety of puzzle-based games I enjoyed. They are all different here, light difficulty and harder ones, but I appreciated all of them.


Superliminal
Agent A
Palindrome Syndrome
Tested on Humans
Tiny Room Stories: Town Mystery
(playing now)


Maquette just came out - haven’t played it, but the world is one big puzzle (quite literally) there.

Forgotten Hill is another a-la Rusty Lake game series

None of them are Myst-level, but maybe you’ll like something while you’re looking for your next great game that hits all your notes.

Sorry for getting off topic, mods

 

 

     
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DCast - 05 March 2021 01:01 PM
colpet - 05 March 2021 11:38 AM

I don’t just want to walk around, and I certainly don’t want to interact with characters. I need to do things- solve codes, flip switches, figure out how to get the power on, etc.
We all have our preferences, and mine are obviously more limited than most. The end result is that we want to play more of what we love, and it seems that it is getting harder to find.

Well, I don’t know your tastes, colpet, obviously Smile
But here’s a variety of puzzle-based games I enjoyed. They are all different here, light difficulty and harder ones, but I appreciated all of them.


Superliminal
Agent A
Palindrome Syndrome
Tested on Humans
Tiny Room Stories: Town Mystery
(playing now)


Maquette just came out - haven’t played it, but the world is one big puzzle (quite literally) there.

Forgotten Hill is another a-la Rusty Lake game series

None of them are Myst-level, but maybe you’ll like something while you’re looking for your next great game that hits all your notes.

Sorry for getting off topic, mods

 

Thanks! Played some of those (Forgotten Hill, AgentA) , will look into the others.
I appreciate the suggestions and the forbearance of the mods for being off topic. If anyone one else has some game they think I may like, PM me.

     
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Jdawg445 - 05 March 2021 05:09 AM
Luhr28 - 04 March 2021 09:25 PM
Baron_Blubba - 04 March 2021 03:12 PM

I think that had games like Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, etc. existed in some capacity in the previous decade, adventure gaming would never have risen to any sort of prominence.

I doubt that’s true. If back in the 80s I’m looking for an experience like The Lurking Horror, with a fully interactive world, then a game like Resident evil where all I can do is run and fight monsters would never have scratched that itch. And the Tomb Raider series has yet to produce a rich an experience as Fate of oAtlantis. Why is that?


See that is an opinion, personally i think fate of Atlantis is overrated. It is fun, but the puzzles are sort of dumbed down, bc the option of choice on how to play the game. Certain aspects are not fully fleshed out. I think some simply give it more credit than it deserves bc it is an indiana jones title. I think broken sword is a far superior version of the indiana jones formula but once again that is just my opinion not a provable fact.

I am a fan of Fate of Atlantis. I think it’s one of the better Lucas Arts games, and I am a big fat fan of 90’s Lucas Arts. I am also a fan of Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, and the other games I mentioned. Whether FoA is better or worse than any of those games is besides the point. The point is that before the graphical renaissance that took place in the mid-to-late 90’s, adventure games were almost the only ones to have graphically well realized worlds and a relatively rich story telling and characterization. (You could argue RPGs, both of the C and J variety, but before FFVII and probably Baldur’s Gate, those were niche genres.) As soon as gamers were able to get fleshed out worlds and characters from their action-oriented games, adventure games lost their place at the vanguard of gaming.
That said, I was just very careful not to allude to any ‘death of adventure games’. I don’t think they ever died, they just lost their place at the front of the video game train.

On a sidenote: As much as I like Fate of Atlantis, yeah, I think it is overrated. Some of the action ‘puzzles’ are utter nonsense attritional padding or busy work. The climax of the game is a maze, which is a cardinal sin in adventure gaming for me. And there are a couple of glitchy areas where the game renders itself unwinnable, and you have to reload from a ways back just to get to that scene again and hope that the game doesn’t glitch this time and that the door to Atlantis will open for you.

     

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colpet - 05 March 2021 11:38 AM

Walking simulators do not exactly sound like what I am looking for. I don’t mind 3D movement, as long as I can use a mouse.  Karlok is right. I play for the puzzles and explore as part of the investigation. The world has to be one big puzzle - The Witness was a good example of that. I don’t just want to walk around, and I certainly don’t want to interact with characters. I need to do things- solve codes, flip switches, figure out how to get the power on, etc.
We all have our preferences, and mine are obviously more limited than most. The end result is that we want to play more of what we love, and it seems that it is getting harder to find.

If you want a good Myst/Cyan style adventure game, Call of The Sea came out recently and I really enjoyed it. The puzzles might be easy for someone who cut their teeth on the 90s stuff but I thought they were well balanced with a decent challenge overall.

The story and visuals were really good as well.

     
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You have played Quern, right? Easily the best game of its type since the end of the Myst series, in my book.

It’s a mystery where these games have gone. They seemed to have suffered an almost instantaneous death starting several years ago, although they were already getting pretty sparse.

     
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Luhr28 - 07 March 2021 05:56 AM

You have played Quern, right? Easily the best game of its type since the end of the Myst series, in my book.

It’s a mystery where these games have gone. They seemed to have suffered an almost instantaneous death starting several years ago, although they were already getting pretty sparse.

If you do 3D assets to a game, it makes very little sense using them as pre-rendered, 360 panning images on modern computers. There’s no real benefit form the game design point in locking you using pre-rendered screens, when real-time 3D gives you better and more options in what comes to the placement of cameras, adding new camera angles and using animation. It is basically something that turned obsolete immediately after GPU’s became better. 

 

     
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I don’t think so:
1. The boom in 3d realtime games happened much earlier than the decline in these games.
2. The decline we’re talking about encompasses realtime 3D games as well. There were plenty of realtime 3D Mystlikes until quite recently.

     
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3D adventure games look great, but I tend to find that I spend way to much time looking for stuff. And it does get old after a while.

Heart

     

I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.

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Adv_Lvr - 13 March 2021 04:52 PM

3D adventure games look great, but I tend to find that I spend way to much time looking for stuff. And it does get old after a while.

Heart

Exactly. This was such a big problem in Broken Sword 4. I think that if you are doing a 3d adventure game, it almost always behooves you to have a fixed camera, or a panning 2d camera (meaning that it moves left and right, not in/out/around, or at least a hotspot indicator. It’s also much easier to design a detailed and atmospheric environment in 2d than in 3d, so unless you’ve got a big fat budget…2d seems to make sense for many reasons.

     

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a detailed and atmospheric environment in 2d than in 3d, so unless you’ve got a big fat budget…2d seems to make sense for many reasons.

Yea, one reason I love the indies is that with their small budgets, they usually stick to 2D. This way, there’s no time lost wandering around.

Heart

     

I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.

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