The death of point and click adventure games

[mohit9206]

So last night i was playing Syberia which is a point and click adventure game from 2002 and after playing it for a while i realized how deep and immersive such games can be.The storytelling,the art,the atmosphere,the dialogue and even the graphics can be wonderful.Many dismiss point and click games for being shallow and boring but when done right they can be downright amazing.Sadly,due to the ever increasing popularity of consoles,the once thriving genre of point and clicks are now dying a quick death.If there is one genre i would love to see the re-birth of is that of point and click adventure games.
So to re-live the old glory days of point and click adventures i will be playing some of these game such as Syberia,The Longest Journey,Book of Unwritten Tales,Secret of Monkey Island,The Whispered World as well as some of the recent indie point and clicks this year.
I would like to know what do you Escapists think about the point and click adventure games and what are some of your most favorite games in the genre ?

 

[thebakedpotato]

I think Final Fantasy 13 counts as one of these, right?

Personally I would have thought tablets and smartphones would have seen an increase in these being made.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

I dunno about it dying. It was certainly dead for a while, but it has a small, but very dedicated, underground following now. Titles by companies like Wadjet Eye have had some surprising success. I'd give some of their games a go if you haven't tried them; Gemini Rue is the most popular but I got my start with the Blackwell series.

I think The Walking Dead is the closest we'll see to a new 'mainstream' title, though.

I bought the first Gabriel Knight from GOG a while back and I really need to get to playing it. I never got to play it back in the day but it seems pretty good.

 

[Pink Gregory]

I dunno about it dying. It was certainly dead for a while, but it has a small, but very dedicated, underground following now. Titles by companies like Wadjet Eye have had some surprising success. I'd give some of their games a go if you haven't tried them; Gemini Rue is the most popular but I got my start with the Blackwell series.

Isn't that the case with most things that aren't shooters/action adventure games, though?

Also, along with Wadjet Eye - http://www.gog.com/games##devpub=wadjet_eye_games (of which my favourite is Resonance)

OP should also take a gander at Daedelic - http://www.gog.com/games##devpub=daedalic_entertainment (but it looks like you already have done)

and Amanita design - http://www.gog.com/games##devpub=amanita_design

 

[Raikas]

I agree that they vanished from the scene for a while, but I think they're on the brink of a comeback.

In addition to the telltale Walking Dead game, I'm seeing more and more buzz about the small point and click adventure games (Gone Home and the like) - as games like that succeed (and generate attention) I think we'll probably see more of them in the future.

As for favourites, I have a fond nostalgic feeling for a lot of the Sierra games from the 90s - I think Conquests of the Longbow would be my absolute favourite.

 

[TehCookie]

It's not consoles that caused them to fade away, it's the fact they're use archaic gameplay most gamers no longer have the patience for. Read some reviews for Leisure Suit Larry and a majority of them complain about the classic gameplay. It has nothing to do with consoles vs PC.

Now that I got that out of my system I love the Monkey Island series, but I haven't played many others. I mostly like the comedy in them, so I've been wanting to give Day of the Tentacle a try. I played some more serious ones as a kid but I couldn't get into them, which could of been my attention span or they were just bad games.

 

[mohit9206]

It's not consoles that caused them to fade away, it's the fact they're use archaic gameplay most gamers no longer have the patience for. Read some reviews for Leisure Suit Larry and a majority of them complain about the classic gameplay. It has nothing to do with consoles vs PC.

Now that I got that out of my system I love the Monkey Island series, but I haven't played many others. I mostly like the comedy in them, so I've been wanting to give Day of the Tentacle a try. I played some more serious ones as a kid but I couldn't get into them, which could of been my attention span or they were just bad games.

What do you mean by they use archaic gameplay ? Its perfect for playing with k/m unlike a gamepad or a controller and because controllers were not suited to such games so they faded away once consoles rose in popularity in mid to late 90's.

 

[veloper]

AGs are actually on the incline again, thanks to digital distribution making them viable again.

Wadjet Eye has some decent point&click adventures like the Blackwell games (for the original and the sequel mostly, numbers 3 and 4 are meh), Gemini Rue, Resonance, Primordia. These games should give the real AG enthousiast his fix for a while.

The Sam & Max episodes were also pretty good. Telltales suck now, but their old stuff isn't bad.

Daedalic also make some decent AGs and they are known even outside the AG scene. King Art was also mentioned.

Let's do some lesser well known stuff.
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes was surprisingly decent, but the focus here is still mostly on puzzleboxes and the like (deduction mode was cool though).
Scratches is also worth playing. Not a third person clicker, but a first person perspective.

 

[TehCookie]

It's not consoles that caused them to fade away, it's the fact they're use archaic gameplay most gamers no longer have the patience for. Read some reviews for Leisure Suit Larry and a majority of them complain about the classic gameplay. It has nothing to do with consoles vs PC.

Now that I got that out of my system I love the Monkey Island series, but I haven't played many others. I mostly like the comedy in them, so I've been wanting to give Day of the Tentacle a try. I played some more serious ones as a kid but I couldn't get into them, which could of been my attention span or they were just bad games.

What do you mean by they use archaic gameplay ? Its perfect for playing with k/m unlike a gamepad or a controller and because controllers were not suited to such games so they faded away once consoles rose in popularity in mid to late 90's.

So how is Monkey Island playable on 360 and PSN if point and clicks are unsuitable for consoles. You can point and click just as fine with a controller as a M&K. If it was impossible to aim and hit a button with a controller I doubt shooters would be as popular on consoles as they are. Just because M&K is better doesn't mean controllers make it unplayable.

As for archaic gameplay, it's a old and limited interface due to the technological restrictions at the time. In the reviews people found it tedious to find the hotspot and rub it on everything else when they couldn't figure out the puzzle. Doublefine said that back when you only had a few games, you had more of an incentive to beat them. Or if you took a break you'd come back to it. Now you have so many games why waste time on one you're stuck? You can always look up the answers on the internet as well.

If you still have no idea go read the reviews I told you to so you can see people complain about it.

 

[The Madman]

They're making a bit of a comeback really, with indie titles such as Machinarium, Gemini Rue, Primordia and such all being released in quick rapid-fire succession. It's also apparently a big market in Germany and Eastern Europe but unfortunately only a few titles like The Whispered World get translations.

Plus you've got the recent success of stuff like The Walking Dead which is a point & click mixed with a bit of light quick-time event gameplay and all's doing fairly well for a genre which not long ago was just a memory.

The Sam & Max episodes were also pretty good. Telltales suck now, but their old stuff isn't bad.

How so? If anything I'm of the opinion they've only been getting better with time. Sam & Max season 1 was quite rough but by the time they got to 3 they started really nailing it, and Walking Dead proves they've got some talent for more serious storytelling as well.

 

[veloper]

The Sam & Max episodes were also pretty good. Telltales suck now, but their old stuff isn't bad.

How so? If anything I'm of the opinion they've only been getting better with time. Sam & Max season 1 was quite rough but by the time they got to 3 they started really nailing it, and Walking Dead proves they've got some talent for more serious storytelling as well.

Because puzzles. Some of the puzzles were clever in the S&M, while the dialogue wasn't funny enough to make me LOL, it made me smile and so the sum of the parts made those episodes okay.
Compare Jurasic Park is just shit with QTEs. Back to the Future was allround mediocre and TWD only has good dialogue going for it and QTEs to detract from the whole experience.

 

[bluepotatosack]

Honestly, I don't think Jurassic Park should be counted against TTG. They had to completely remake the game when some high muckity muck decided to take it in a completely different direction than what they were originally planning. At least I vaguely remember reading an article to that effect...

BTTF is fair enough though. They were trying to appeal to newcomers to the genre which lead to handholding and simplistic puzzles, blah. I did thoroughly enjoy that one episode that was all 1984-ish, though.

As for TWD, it's more than just the dialogue, it's the hard decisions you have to make. That's really the heart of the experience.

 

[Weaver]

They're not dead, they're just German now.

 

[shrekfan246]

What do you mean by they use archaic gameplay ? Its perfect for playing with k/m unlike a gamepad or a controller and because controllers were not suited to such games so they faded away once consoles rose in popularity in mid to late 90's.

I'm not sure archaic means what you think it means.

Many dismiss point and click games for being shallow and boring but when done right they can be downright amazing.

I dismiss point & click games because I find their logic puzzles to be infuriating and illogical, and I absolutely hate that many of them require you to do/find something you have no idea actually exists and has no actual reason for the player character to do/find it, but without said McGuffin you would get a Game Over an hour or two down the line and would need to start all over from the beginning. It's tedious, boring, and when there are other, more engaging things I could be doing instead I'm far more likely to just never look at it again than slog through the same sluggish, poorly designed interfaces and puzzles.

Obviously, this doesn't extend to all point & click games, particularly the brands from LucasArts in the 90's. But really, I don't care enough to go sifting through every P&C ever made to find the few I'd actually be able to moderately enjoy because they won't BS me halfway through the game.

N.B. - I have no problem with games presenting the player with an unwinnable situation if the player happened to miss something. Honestly, it's something more games could stand to do lately. But the game should make the effort to telegraph that there is something the player should find, even (or especially) without explicitly stating what or why the player should find it.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

I think some are fun. 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors was a great game. I haven't gotten to play Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward but it looks fun as hell. And let's not forget some of the best:

Spoiler: The Ace Attorney Series!

The Ace Attorney games have to be some of my favorites on the DS. While I'm saddened that America is only going to get a digital version of Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies, I'm very much looking forward to playing it.

I don't think Point-and-Click is dead, just not as popular now. Becoming more niche, if you will. That's just what I think.

 

[The Madman]

Because puzzles. Some of the puzzles were clever in the S&M, while the dialogue wasn't funny enough to make me LOL, it made me smile and so the sum of the parts made those episodes okay.
Compare Jurasic Park is just shit with QTEs. Back to the Future was allround mediocre and TWD only has good dialogue going for it and QTEs to detract from the whole experience.

Fair enough, but then my favourite point & click is The Longest Journey and that game has shit puzzles. Honestly the storytelling has always been my favourite element of point & click games, even ones like Syberia which had fantastic puzzles it was the ambiance, setting, and characters which kept me intrigued to the end, not the puzzles themselves.

Point & click has always been a genre that was very conducive to storytelling and that's always been why I play those games, I think that's why I don't really mind developers trying out new gameplay mechanics and why by proxy I tend to think of Telltale as having gotten better over time.

If however you're more the puzzle type I can see why you'd be disappointed in them.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Ive only played a few to completion as ones I tried from way back I thought were garbage just completely illogical puzzles and the possibility to make the game unfinishable if you made one mistake.

Obviously I had been playing the wrong ones though

The Longest Journey sucked me in and kept me there and is still the best adventure game I have played, Dreamfall wasnt as good but was still great.

The Syberia collection also kept me there until it was finished and I had a great time.

The book of unfinished tales was ok and had some funny moments but overall it outstayed its welcome for me.

The original Monkey Island is at turns both genius and terrible it has some funny as hell moments and lines but overall I didnt care much fro the puzzles and still havent finished it.

Im just playing the walking dead atm and its real good so far except my mouse isnt the most accurate or responsive which can be annoying same with the keyboard you press a response and the game dosent recognise it never had that problem in any other game or on the desktop.

One thing I hate about adventure games is if they make the puzzles to hard or obscure its really one of the worst types of games to stall in because absolutely nothing happens and you dont improve at anything its either you know it or you dont.

 

[Bluelaughter]

I really enjoyed Simon the Sorceror back in the day, particularly for its humour. Some of the Space Quest and King's Quest games were quite good too. Sam & Max also made me laugh out loud, though I don't know if I finished all the episodes. I never really considered 999 a point and click adventure, as it seemed to be branching paths, with walls of text interspersed with not too hard puzzles, inside a bigger larger puzzle. Agreed with the general consensus about the Longest Journey being much better than Dreamfall.

I personally prefer the point and click games where there is back and forth exploring. It makes the game feel more engaging, as not everything you see is important, and some things are important, just not right away. Keeps you more into the story.

Honestly, I think point and click adventures are on the rise with the increased availability of touch screens. They just are no longer as epic feeling as before. I've also played the first episode of Adera on Win 8, (free) but haven't felt the compulsion to buy the rest of the episodes. The first person perspective makes me feel less involved with the person than actually seeing them and their facial expressions.