Adventure Games - do they still have a place in today's gaming world?

[EmptyOptimist]

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...never_really_went_away_says_Resonance_dev.php
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116795-Space-Quest-Creators-Reunite

I spent much of my formative years playing adventure or point and click games, and on occasion will still break out the discs for many of the games I still possess. And reading the above articles has gotten me excited about the fact that adventure games seem to be making a resurgence.

But it also got me thinking - do adventure games still have a place in today's gaming world? With these - and other adventure game releases, will you partake? If so, is it for nostalgia's sake, or do you still truly enjoy the genre?

For the younger readers out there - have you played adventure games? Do they interest you?

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I don't know. It's like asking if chess still has a place in today's gaming world. If the concepts underpinning the Adventure genre were ever fun, they'd be fun today.

They're just not very marketable, which is why they remain a bit of a fringe genre. They're not fast paced, and with all the voice acting they're fairly expensive to put together. But they're certainly "fun" enough.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

It's complicated. I watched the documentary "get lamp" a couple of months ago and it left me feeling that adventure games will probably live on but the magic and feeling of open possibilities of the past can not be regained.

 

[Folji]

Telltale Games and a couple of other indie companies are doing a nice job keeping the genre afloat, but it's getting harder to recommend a point and click adventure game to younger generations. Can't imagine there are all that many new gamers who'd appreciate hours of trial, error and logical reasoning for the gratification of succeeding when they could get that gratification a lot quicker from something more action-packed.

Completing all three seasons of Sam & Max in a row was still totally worth it, though.

 

[Mr Somewhere]

I think adventure games absolutely still have a place in the market, they just haven't found it yet. I imagine the genre could work rather well on one of them new fangled tablet machines. In other words I imagine they'd manage to find success among the "casual" crowd.

 

[Vegosiux]

Paraphrasing Yahtzee, modern gaming is adventure gaming, only that most of the puzzles can be solved with "use gun on man".

But, I for example, got me a Sam&Max complete collection a while ago, and really enjoyed myself through the series. Sure one episode was in only the 3 hour range, but there were 16 of them, so still plenty of amusement.

Plus, it's Sam&Max. How could it not be amusing?

 

[distortedreality]

I'd love to see more point and click adventure games - as others have said though, they've sort of turned into a niche genre now.

 

[EmptyOptimist]

Telltale Games and a couple of other indie companies are doing a nice job keeping the genre afloat, but it's getting harder to recommend a point and click adventure game to younger generations. Can't imagine there are all that many new gamers who'd appreciate hours of trial, error and logical reasoning for the gratification of succeeding when they could get that gratification a lot quicker from something more action-packed.

Completing all three seasons of Sam & Max in a row was still totally worth it, though.

Hence the reason I started this thread. Whether it be due to a lack of attention span or otherwise, people seem to trend towards the "point and shoot" over the "point and click" variety because racking up a high K/D ration does little in improving your logical capabilities. I think adventure games have a definite place, and I will continue to play them as I have the opportunity. I just hope more people recognize and get to experience the joy that comes from completing a good point and click - I.E. Monkey Island, Sam & Max, Day of the Tentacle, etc.

BTW - I play MW3 myself, so I am definitely guilty of the point and shoot affliction.



Let me add to the OP - if you do play adventure games, which ones are you playing? Which classics would you recommend?

 

[Folji]

]Hence the reason I started this thread. Whether it be due to a lack of attention span or otherwise, people seem to trend towards the "point and shoot" over the "point and click" variety because racking up a high K/D ration does little in improving your logical capabilities. I think adventure games have a definite place, and I will continue to play them as I have the opportunity. I just hope more people recognize and get to experience the joy that comes from completing a good point and click - I.E. Monkey Island, Sam & Max, Day of the Tentacle, etc.

BTW - I play MW3 myself, so I am definitely guilty of the point and shoot affliction.

Let me add to the OP - if you do play adventure games, which ones are you playing? Which classics would you recommend?

Point and smash for me. Always been fond of action RPGs. Guess having to search and investigate every odd corner of the game world in order to find a way to move the story along isn't as fun to many as it is to have the goal in clear sight and cause some collateral damage along the way. But if there's one classic adventure game everyone should give a try, it's the Monkey Island series. Or at least the Special Edition versions, if the sight of trying to portray a high level of detail with only 256 colors per image feels noisy.

 

[Aerosteam]

I would of thought this thread was made because the last few episodes of All Your History was about adventure games, but never mind.

The average gamer in modern times is not into adventure games. Not enough people will buy the game to keep the developer going. The ratio of point 'n' click games to shooters is pretty small.

 

[EmptyOptimist]

The output from Telltale Games has been pretty good. I also picked up the re-release of The Dig on Steam last year and it's been one of my favorites.

I played The Dig LOOOOOONG ago, and remember it being quite good - but it has been a long time.

That's the conventional wisdom. That's what everyone says. But everyone lies. The truth is that Telltale have proven that adventure games are still a marketable genre. They're not the blockbusters that FPSs currently are, but they do have a dedicated fanbase. If you keep the budgets modest, the writing sharp, and the voice talent at least noteworthy, you can turn a profit.

But is that fanbase a bunch of us older generation. As we die out, does the genre as well?

 

[OldDirtyCrusty]

I hope for more Lucasarts remakes in this nice cartoon style. Replaying Monkey island 1-2 after 16 years was a blast. These old adventures still get great reviews and i liked the switch from new to old graphics just to show off how it looked back in the day. The full MI series, S&M:htr, MM2:dott, Fullthrottle and Grim Fandango in this remake style would be a dream come true.

Telltale were the only ones getting new fun adventures right (Sam&Max). Too bad they seem to leave the point and click part for a more interactive movie experience.

My hopes are on Double Fine and their new project...oh, and i hope i`m wrong about the upcomming walking dead game.

 

[Darknacht]

I was never a big fan of classic adventure games such as XXXX Quest and the Lucas Arts games but I enjoy some of the newer adventure games such as Penumbra. I think adventure gamers definitely have a place its just not necessarily the same place it had before. Flash games and developers like Telltale Games will probably always keep the more classic type of adventure games alive and developers like Frictional Games will take the same ideas of Puzzle-solving, finding/using items, immersive setting/story, and a less combat oriented approach to enemies and put them in a different style game then most point and click adventures.

 

[imagremlin]

Hard question. You have to ask what makes a game genre relevant. Personally, I play games for the experience. If I play a racing game I want to feel that I'm driving. If I play a shooter I want to feel that I'm in some sort of armed conflict and so on.

In that vein, Adventure Games are about going to places, meeting characters and getting involved in the story. If the places/characters are interesting the game is potentially -keep that in mind- good. With Tim Shaffer, those two elements are 100% guaranteed.

But interesting places/characters are just part of the equation, you also need to have game mechanics that complete the experience. This is where the challenge for adventure games lies. The point-and-click mechanic is quite limited; last time around, towards the end, designers were pulling their hairs out trying to come up with something new within those confines. Adventure games are inherently puzley; how many memorable puzzles can you possibly come up with?

I get the feeling that, as much as I enjoyed those games back in the day, their time is done. Double Fine Adventure (of which I'm a supporter) will function a lot on nostalgia, and probably will not revive the genre.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Tell-Tale Games has been doing great with it's games, and L.A. Noire sold a ridiculous number of copies for what was an untried IP in a relatively unpopular genre.

No, adventure gaming is not dead. It's just changed.

 

[Smooth Operator]

I think they do on the mobile market because we forgive more when we are just bored.
But classic adventure games hinged mostly on cutting corners around hardware limits, which isn't a problem these days so compared to other games those adventures just feel cumbersome and bullshit.