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Is there any game from the past 5 years that would enter your Top 10?

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cyfoyjvx - 08 September 2020 11:32 PM

My answer is “no, not really”.

I like most of the games mentioned so far, I would just like to know which games you are going to knock out of your top 10. Not much is going to budge Riven, or Discworld, or Last Express or even a Gabriel Knight.

It’s like, a lot of people have no problem proclaiming a Banksy or Pollock a “top 10” artwork until they realise it has to replace a Rembrandt or a Da Vinci or a Van Gogh.

I agree one hundred percent. No way I’m going to remove Riven or The Last Express or GK2! That’s why I have a Top Twenty before 2000 and a Top Twenty 2000-2020.  Smile There are simply too many great games to cram into one top ten.

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

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cyfoyjvx - 08 September 2020 11:32 PM

I like most of the games mentioned so far, I would just like to know which games you are going to knock out of your top 10. Not much is going to budge Riven, or Discworld, or Last Express or even a Gabriel Knight.

Discworld, without hesitation. It’s a good looking game with great voice acting and animation, but the puzzle design is terrible.

     
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Doom - 08 September 2020 03:05 PM

Is it even fair to put a one-man game like Obra Dinn besides all-time classics written, drawn and programmed by tens and hundreds of seasoned game devs?

Yes.
If you think the game is better than some game that has taken hundreds of people’s time, I see no reason why you should do a head count from the credits and decide only then whether it’s a good game or not. I suppose as an academic quality per team member equation it might be interesting, but who looks games from that angle anyway?

If there are fewer developers and other people involved, it can be argued that the game, whatever it is like, is much truer to the original vision than some game that has hundreds of team members, and goes through corporate reviews, and has some things taken out for legal reasons and so on.

cyfoyjvx - 08 September 2020 11:32 PM

I like most of the games mentioned so far, I would just like to know which games you are going to knock out of your top 10. Not much is going to budge Riven, or Discworld, or Last Express or even a Gabriel Knight.

It’s like, a lot of people have no problem proclaiming a Banksy or Pollock a “top 10” artwork until they realise it has to replace a Rembrandt or a Da Vinci or a Van Gogh.

But if it’s really better?
Simply going by numbers, there has to be some newer games that at least statistically challenge the older ones. Maybe not that many, and maybe not for everyone, but at least something for someone. After all, the game developers of today have all the tools that the people had in the past, and many new ones too, they also have full knowledge of the old games that they can use, and because there are more adventure games being made now than ever before (although most of it is indie and freeware, if that matters), then it would be very strange if there wouldn’t be an occasional gem that rises from the mass.

The real problem is that too many games are trying to repeat what has already been done. If you look at Kickstarter projects, often those developers tell more about how they would like to recreate LucasArts/Sierra format than what their original ideas are.

     
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GateKeeper - 09 September 2020 02:07 AM

After all, the game developers of today have all the tools that the people had in the past, and many new ones too, they also have full knowledge of the old games that they can use, and because there are more adventure games being made now than ever before (although most of it is indie and freeware, if that matters), then it would be very strange if there wouldn’t be an occasional gem that rises from the mass.

It’s a strange phenomena - not only in the video game industry. You’d think with time everything is better, more advanced, but it isn’t - musicians and guitarists of today have all the new amps, pedals, music software and processors at disposal, but we still think of classics like AC/DC played on the old amp as the staple of rock and roll music. And few people would name a new tune as their Top 10 rock anthems, I’m sure it would boil down to 70s and 80s.

     

Recently finished: Four Last Things 4/5, Edna & Harvey: The Breakout 5/5, Chains of Satinav 3,95/5, A Vampyre Story 88, Sam Peters 3/5, Broken Sword 1 4,5/5, Broken Sword 2 4,3/5, Broken Sword 3 85, Broken Sword 5 81, Gray Matter 4/5\nCurrently playing: Broken Sword 4, Keepsake (Let\‘s Play), Callahan\‘s Crosstime Saloon (post-Community Playthrough)\nLooking forward to: A Playwright’s Tale

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Karlok - 08 September 2020 09:51 PM

Return of the Obra Dinn has been recommended 5 or 6 times (Vehelon?). Are you going to play it, diego?

I started the playthrough on the forums, and gave it a go, I can’t remember why I abandoned it. As I like detective games (AND history), it is on my radar, and answers in this thread is surely a boost to finish it.

     

Recently finished: Four Last Things 4/5, Edna & Harvey: The Breakout 5/5, Chains of Satinav 3,95/5, A Vampyre Story 88, Sam Peters 3/5, Broken Sword 1 4,5/5, Broken Sword 2 4,3/5, Broken Sword 3 85, Broken Sword 5 81, Gray Matter 4/5\nCurrently playing: Broken Sword 4, Keepsake (Let\‘s Play), Callahan\‘s Crosstime Saloon (post-Community Playthrough)\nLooking forward to: A Playwright’s Tale

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diego - 09 September 2020 04:11 AM

It’s a strange phenomena - not only in the video game industry. You’d think with time everything is better, more advanced, but it isn’t - musicians and guitarists of today have all the new amps, pedals, music software and processors at disposal, but we still think of classics like AC/DC played on the old amp as the staple of rock and roll music. And few people would name a new tune as their Top 10 rock anthems, I’m sure it would boil down to 70s and 80s.

Yeah, well, rock kind of died when MTV became a reality TV and everyone started streaming music instead of buying albums. Not counting chiptune and synthwave downloads, I can’t even recall when I last time bought any music. Too bad.

Anyway, there are some good rock songs still being made, but they kind of go unnoticed.

One of the best from the last 10 years is Poets of the Fall and the music they did for Alan Wake. They did a good song for Max Payne too, but that goes back a long time.

Outside “pure” rock, there is some good music of course. I personally like Disasterpeace, who has also composed music for many indie games. His Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar album would absolutely go to my Top 10 albums of all times, including all genres.

I even backed one puzzle game on Kickstarter mostly because Disasterpeace was composing for it. The game is Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake in case anyone is interested.

     

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diego - 09 September 2020 04:11 AM

It’s a strange phenomena - not only in the video game industry. You’d think with time everything is better, more advanced, but it isn’t - musicians and guitarists of today have all the new amps, pedals, music software and processors at disposal, but we still think of classics like AC/DC played on the old amp as the staple of rock and roll music. And few people would name a new tune as their Top 10 rock anthems, I’m sure it would boil down to 70s and 80s.

Reminds me of that old joke… I forget the exact quote, but it was something to the effect that the Golden Age of Science Fiction isn’t a specific decade, it was when you were 12 years old.

And there may be something to that, because some of my most vivid adventure gaming memories are from games that, while still charming, might not make my top list now: The mugger in Déjà Vu. That imp with the key in Shadowgate. Asking Bard to kill the dragon with his bow in The Hobbit, only to have him first refuse and then try to beat the dragon to death with it. Playing The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with a friend, finally solving a puzzle (no, not the Babel fish one) only to have my friend accidentally kick the power cord out of its socket in our moment of triumph. Good times!

I was going to add Hadean Lands to the list of recent adventures that might make it into my top list, but then I realized it was released almost six years ago. Oh well…

     
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diego - 09 September 2020 04:14 AM
Karlok - 08 September 2020 09:51 PM

Return of the Obra Dinn has been recommended 5 or 6 times (Vehelon?). Are you going to play it, diego?

I started the playthrough on the forums, and gave it a go, I can’t remember why I abandoned it. As I like detective games (AND history), it is on my radar, and answers in this thread is surely a boost to finish it.

It seems to be sort of a “rule” that people who stop playing a game won’t like it the second time either. Whether you know why you abandoned it or not doesn’t matter, those things are subtle and elusive, but very real.

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

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GateKeeper - 09 September 2020 05:43 AM

One of the best from the last 10 years is Poets of the Fall and the music they did for Alan Wake. They did a good song for Max Payne too, but that goes back a long time.

I was trying to think of what it was this reminded me of, then it occurred to me Jack Black had a parody band back in the 90s sounding like this. Unfortunately people think this is what 70s rock music (“prog rock”) was like, but most of it was much, much better.

     
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cyfoyjvx - 08 September 2020 11:32 PM

I like most of the games mentioned so far, I would just like to know which games you are going to knock out of your top 10. Not much is going to budge Riven, or Discworld, or Last Express or even a Gabriel Knight.

Depends on your top 10 and how you view it. I had a definite top 6 and 2 juuuust shy games making a top 8. The rest of the top 20 were fantastic as well, but I’d always refer back to those 8.
Then I played Toonstruck and The Cat Lady in CPTs here which gave me an actual top 10.
I then reassessed the others and had a top 21 for a while. With 11-16 being stronger than 17-21. After replaying some of the 17-21 games, I had no quarrel booting them, giving me just a top 16 again. And then Disco Elysium and the CPT of Anna’s Quest gave me 2 more.
That means that I now still have open vacancies in my top 20… Grin

Top lists are a personal thing and can easily change over time. And sometimes an easy top 10 game drops a little out of favour, or something new shows up that bumps others a place down. Or sometimes you want to fit a new game in but find that you don’t have the heart to drop another game, so you expand to a top 25. Or be weird like me and have a top 21 or top 18.
It’s just a snapshot of your personal preference at this exact time anyway. Who knows what tomorrow brings?

GateKeeper - 09 September 2020 02:07 AM
Doom - 08 September 2020 03:05 PM

Is it even fair to put a one-man game like Obra Dinn besides all-time classics written, drawn and programmed by tens and hundreds of seasoned game devs?

Yes.
If you think the game is better than some game that has taken hundreds of people’s time, I see no reason why you should do a head count from the credits and decide only then whether it’s a good game or not. I suppose as an academic quality per team member equation it might be interesting, but who looks games from that angle anyway?

I agree with GateKeeper. The number of team members and the game’s budget are irrelevant when it comes to assessing the game’s quality, I feel.

Maybe it’s even the other way around: I’m more forgiving of minor errors/glitches/lack of polish when it’s a one-man team with a shoestring budget.

GateKeeper - 09 September 2020 05:43 AM

Anyway, there are some good rock songs still being made, but they kind of go unnoticed.

One of the best from the last 10 years is Poets of the Fall and the music they did for Alan Wake. They did a good song for Max Payne too, but that goes back a long time.

I only found out about Poets of the Fall last year.

I’m currently making a new top list of songs after my top 100s in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and my top 300 in 2016. This time it could end up as a top 2000 but it’s very much a work in progress that’s probably only going to be finished no sooner than late 2021. Poets of the Fall’s Carnival of Rust is very likely to be the highest new entry in the list… Cool

     

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

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TimovieMan - 09 September 2020 07:49 AM

Who knows what tomorrow brings?

I know.

There Is A Way.

Tongue


Of course that can happen today or tomorrow depending on where you are on the planet.

What I don’t know is if that game is going to make it to anyone’s top lists.
The concept looks intriguing though, and it’s what I was looking for in a previous message, some new interesting ideas. New ideas at least in the store description, hopefully in the game as well.

     
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Karlok - 09 September 2020 06:23 AM

It seems to be sort of a “rule” that people who stop playing a game won’t like it the second time either. Whether you know why you abandoned it or not doesn’t matter, those things are subtle and elusive, but very real.

Nah, I’m sure it was more because of me than the game. Also, (I’m not sure about this) I recall I read somewhere that the game isn’t really strong puzzle-wise, and the old-school rebel, who wants to save the world against the narrative-type of games and set the place for the long-awaited Puzzle King awoke in me, and Obra Dinn was doomed.

     

Recently finished: Four Last Things 4/5, Edna & Harvey: The Breakout 5/5, Chains of Satinav 3,95/5, A Vampyre Story 88, Sam Peters 3/5, Broken Sword 1 4,5/5, Broken Sword 2 4,3/5, Broken Sword 3 85, Broken Sword 5 81, Gray Matter 4/5\nCurrently playing: Broken Sword 4, Keepsake (Let\‘s Play), Callahan\‘s Crosstime Saloon (post-Community Playthrough)\nLooking forward to: A Playwright’s Tale

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Diego, you can’t have played Obra Dinn if you believe that comment.

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

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Karlok - 09 September 2020 09:56 AM

Diego, you can’t have played Obra Dinn if you believe that comment.

^ This.

It took me all of five minutes to be completely sold on the game’s puzzle mechanics. Basically, the “tutorial” scenes were enough to convince me. Even before the story’s first “holy crap!” moment…

Did you do more than just boot up the game and walk around on the ship for about half a minute?

     

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

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TimovieMan - 09 September 2020 07:49 AM

Maybe it’s even the other way around: I’m more forgiving of minor errors/glitches/lack of polish when it’s a one-man team with a shoestring budget.

This is basically what I meant: many people (including myself) tend to be more forgiving towards small teams that produced a good game, especially if it was only their first or second game ever (which is the case with all adventures I listed). And vice versa - they tend to be more critical when rating a big-budget game from a well-established company. But if you take into consideration all the efforts spent on making AAA-titles and, say, on Obra Dinn where Lucas Pope limited the gameplay to walking around a small ship and chose a very specific graphical style reminiscent of the 1980s, it feels like games from different leagues. In Curse of Monkey Island or Riven every screen is the work of many talented artists and animators while the gameplay is not limited to one concept. They tried to make the game BOTH functionally and aesthetically attractive and spent a lot of resources just on that. Of course, at the same time Obra Dinn might be the single most popular adventure of this century, so Pope probably did everything right Smile

diego - 08 September 2020 04:53 PM

It shouldn’t matter - because if YOU were making YOUR All-time Top 10 list without any restrictions, would there be place for a new, “small-budget”, indie game?

GateKeeper - 09 September 2020 02:07 AM

If you think the game is better than some game that has taken hundreds of people’s time, I see no reason why you should do a head count from the credits and decide only then whether it’s a good game or not.

While I agree that it shouldn’t matter as long as you enjoyed the game, I often realise that it does actually matter when I look back at my top 10 and wonder whether this new indie game is really that good to match Gabriel Knight or The Neverhood. There are always those small touches and the overall quality reached due to many people involved including those responsible for quality assurance or evil managers who make the teams reprogram or redraw the games at nights. And while in theory indie teams have more freedom to express themselves, they are often limited technologically/financially and have to search other ways around, while the recent Kickstarter wave showed that they are also less organized and have harder times to keep their promises, i.m. produce something true to their vision.

That said, I’m very fond of Obra, Hypno and Disco and perfectly fine with their gameplays and graphical styles. But I’ll need at least to replay them to say whether I’d rate them along my all-time favourite games (Broken Sword left my top-10 recently as well as Zork: Grand Inquisitor, so there are open vacancies). In fact my main complaint about many “top something” published by websites (Adventuregamers included) is that they rush to include every decent game produced recently without giving it a replay or some time to pass. This is just not right, and I suspect that if a new Top-100 All Time Adventure Games is published, half or more than a half of the list will consist of new indie and experimental games that scored high on Adventuregamers, but would never win in a fair battle against recognized masterpieces of the past.

     

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