Adventure Gamers - Forums

I think you’re not alone in your disappointment with recent games; it’s become pretty tough to find a real gem but I still believe they are there. No. I KNOW they are there. Try Daedalic’s adventures - yes, Sadwick is annoying when we first meet him but it’s such a beautiful game that you’re missing.
However, I agree with most of the points you made even though I do see some things differently.

1. An unlikable Protagonist
That can be a killer although I think “unlikable” is a term that can be stretched. I liked Sadwick a lot after I had spent some time with him (in the beginning he really got on my nerves). I also came to like Malachi Rector from Moebius, mainly for his snarky comments about bad artwork displayed in other people’s houses. So, for me, a protagonist isn’t necessarily Mr Nice Guy; there can be an edge to him or her but I need something that makes me want to help that character, something I can relate to. He or she needs to be interesting in some way. Now, take NiBiRu - featuring a nice Story (with an ending I never quite unterstood), some nice puzzles and the most boring character ever. A close second would be Brian from Runaway. Both Martin Holan and Brian made me cringe. They were dull and uninteresting.

2. Excessive dialogue
It depends on what the characters have to say, I think. If they’re droning on and on about an uninteresting subject - spare me. But the lengthy dialogues in The Longest Journey had me glued to the Screen. In fact, I LOVE dialogue in an adventure game, especially when it’s well written and well executed. The latest Broken Sword installment was full of witty dialogue and had me laughing out loud

3. Lengthy cut scenes
Totally agree that unskippable cutscenes can be very tedious, especially when you have to watch them over and over again because you’ve made a mistake before and had to replay a section of the game.

4. Timed puzzles
I’m with you on this one. I absolutely hate timed puzzles because the Minute a clock is set, I become very nervous and tend to mess things up. I play to relax, not to be stressed out. The worst timed puzzle I ever had to do was a walk in Loch Ness beneath the surface of the Loch. You had a time bar ticking off pretty quick, and, to make things worse, it was a maze. Argh.

5. Idiotic puzzles
It depends on the game. Some games require weird, silly puzzles - like Guybrush and the rubber chicken In general, I prefer puzzles to be Logical, though, unless it’s a silly game to begin with.

6. Poorly programmed games
I think this is more a matter of game design than of poor programming. Or maybe it’s both. When I know what to do but the game won’t let me unless I do something that isn’t even remotely connected to the puzzle, it annoys me because I spend minutes looking for that one clue I missed. Also annoying: You reach the final scene and are ready for the showdown - and discover that you forgot to take an item earlier. Even worse, you don’t have a chance to retrieve that item now because a demon is coming for you and will kill you. Even if you retry, you cannot get to that item because the game won’t let you. If you want to finish the game, you have to load the previous chapter, get that item and voila. I really hated this part of Phantasmagoria…

7. Dexterity-based puzzles
Not too fond of combat, either. If I want to fight, I play a shooter or rpg. I almost gave up on Dreamfall because of the fighting and sneaking around (troll cave, anyone?).

8. Linear games
This is a question of balance. I think that a game needs some linearity to it but at the same time, it needs to give the player a certain amount of liberty when exploring the world the game is set in.

9. Too short
If a game is well done, I usually don’t mind finishing in a short amount of time, short being 4-5 hours. Most short games, however, aren’t that good to begin with. I played The Second Guest a while ago and just when I was getting into the mood, it was over. Turned out it was only the first two episodes or so - which wasn’t stated on the box so I felt ripped off. Cleopatra also is a very short game; you can finish it in 4 hours. At least it had nice graphics and good puzzles. Story? What story? Other games tend to be a Little too long for my taste. Take Jack Keane, for example. I really enjoyed the game but during the last third of it, I had a feeling that it was stretched out just to gain more playtime. Worse still, it got boring and I was kinda glad when I was done with it. So a game can be too long as well.

10. Too easy
When I played Moebius, I kept wondering if the game really was that easy or if I just had gotten better at solving puzzles or probably a blend of both. I don’t know. I like easy puzzles but when I start up a Sherlock Holmes game, I expect to be challenged. Same with Jane Jensen. I couldn’t solve some of her puzzles in the Gabriel Knight games without a walkthrough. Moebius was a walk in the park