Modern trends in graphic adventures

[NeoZeedeater]

Shenmue I and II(Sega/Yu Suzuki, 2000 and 2001)


Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit(Quantic Dream/David Cage, 2005)


Dreamfall: The Longest Journey(Funcom/Ragnar Tornquist, 2006)



What do these games have in common? They're all modern 3d takes on the graphic adventure genre. They all vary from more traditional adventure games with their increased focus on story and cinematics, decreased emphasis on puzzles, incorporation of action elements, and being designed more for a controller than a mouse. Of course, these elements aren't new to the genre but in the past there weren't many titles taking this route with all of these.

I'm curious what people here think of this evolution of the genre. Would you rather have more traditional adventure games or is this the desired future?

My thoughts:

I'm certainly not a "genre purist". If a game can successfully mix genres I'm all for it. Not all games need to attempt it though. Shenmue wouldn't be the same without some action while Dreamfall doesn't really need it.

Ideally, I would like to see future adventure games meet in the middle between old and new, i.e. have the presentation, story and budget of these modern games, maybe throw in some other genre elements but retain the challenging puzzles of the past. I'm also a big supporter of adventure games having multiple solutions to puzzles. Not enough games do that.

What do you think about this?

[MechDeus]

I'm certainly not a "genre purist". If a game can successfully mix genres I'm all for it. Not all games need to attempt it though. Shenmue wouldn't be the same without some action while Dreamfall doesn't really need it.

Werd.

What do you think about this?

All adventure games really used to be was a series of puzzles that would trigger the next cutscene. A few games were much more freeform and didn't follow that ruleset such as Maniac Mansion (but its sequel sure did) though these seemed to be the exception.

I actually prefer where they are now because I never really got much joy out of the puzzles because they were so often non-sensical. Usually they worked around combining a couple objects that seemed to have nothing in common and then using them somewhere I wouldn't expect to perform an action that comes together randomly. I can't really comment on the KQ and SQ series because even though I found the latter funny I hated their style of play and presentation too much to ever bother playing them for very long.

I also like how everyone's on the phone.

p.s. I agree with your edit.

[Frogacuda]

I think there's a middle ground that has been hit by a few (but not nearly enough games).

The fundamnetal problem facing the genre is that, as something that relies almost entirely on observation and reasoning, it's easy to get stuck if you miss something. I used to love the purist oldschool adventures like Space Quest, Sam and Max, etc. But I can't think of too many that I've ever managed to complete without a walkthrough. There's always something that's a bit of a logical stretch, some item I've missed, or some goal that's unclear at some point. The problem is that playing the game more does not really make the solution gradually more clear, the way playing an action game over and over would become progressively easy.

So these new games either make the solutions to their puzzles painfully obvious, or they streamline the interface so that there's not as many possibilities to experiment with, making trial and error a more viable solution. Both of these make the puzzles less rewarding, and games that do this tend to mix some action into the mix just to things have some substance. I'm ambivelent about action elements in adventure games in general. Its fine when done well, but not a good substitute for quality puzzles.

The other solution is to build in a sort of hint system. Under a Killing Moon and Pandora Directive had excellent hint systems that would allow you to purchase (with game points) clues of increasing explicity. This more or less fixed the problem in a way that I was happy with, but it's pretty artificial. Neverhood intigrated its hint system into the game world by allowing you to recieve mail from Willy. I think some sort of integrated hint system to gradually illuminate puzzles is probably the best way to keep things rewarding without getting frustrating.

I do think there's a number of games that manage to maintain subtlety without getting too bizzarre with their puzzles. I'm really looking forward to Nearly Departed as the demo was exactly what I want from an adventure game.

[Salsashark]

I like them because they tend to be the games that are blurring genre lines the most. All the games mentioned are really flawed, but they're also great in a lot of ways, and making real advancements in the medium.

I'm more interested in the worlds of these games than in something like Grand Theft Auto, because they're more controlled, at least in terms of storyline. I guess the trick is to make it feel as uncontrolled to the player as possible while still moving along as planned. I think Chibi Robo is on to something in that while you move around and interact with characters there are always other things to be doing as well at the same time. That's something that Shenmue really could have used.

Ideally, I would like to see future adventure games meet in the middle between old and new, i.e. have the presentation, story and budget of these modern games, maybe throw in some other genre elements but retain the challenging puzzles of the past. I'm also a big supporter of adventure games having multiple solutions to puzzles. Not enough games do that.

Agreed. Hopefully someone will eventually get the balance right.

[sleeve]

Old Man Murray had the final word on adventure games six years ago:

http://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/77.html

"Who killed Adventure Games? I think it should be pretty clear at this point that Adventure Games committed suicide."

[Frogacuda]

Old Man Murray had the final word on adventure games six years ago:

http://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/77.html

"Who killed Adventure Games? I think it should be pretty clear at this point that Adventure Games committed suicide."

What a dumb article. It talks about adventure games as the domain of the hardcore elitist nerds, but if ever there was a genre that attracted the Sunday Gamer, it's adventure games. Lots of people who barely played games at all would play them, because they required no real knowledge of convention or interface to approach, and didn't have the pressure of death or time constraints.

That might be something that's important to get back. Since making the leap to 3D it seems that that simple and intuitive interface has been lost. Grim Fandango was a great example of classic adventure game design trapped in a clunky interface that had players piloting a robot tank instead of pointing and clicking. I'm glad Bone brought back point and click, and I hope more games in the genre follow suit.

[NeoZeedeater]

What a dumb article. It talks about adventure games as the domain of the hardcore elitist nerds, but if ever there was a genre that attracted the Sunday Gamer, it's adventure games. Lots of people who barely played games at all would play them, because they required no real knowledge of convention or interface to approach, and didn't have the pressure of death or time constraints.

So true. My dad's a non-gamer who dismisses most games as "nothing but shooting" and he loved games like Sam & Max and The 7th Guest.

That might be something that's important to get back. Since making the leap to 3D it seems that that simple and intuitive interface has been lost. Grim Fandango was a great example of classic adventure game design trapped in a clunky interface that had players piloting a robot tank instead of pointing and clicking. I'm glad Bone brought back point and click, and I hope more games in the genre follow suit.

Yeah, there isn't really any reason to mess with the old point and click interface on PC, especially if there's no action. Dreamfall was a case of awkward controls too.

[dakidski]

I hope they will strive for stronger stories with a good deal of puzzles while cutting down on the action. Indigio Prophecy didn't gain anything from QTE and I don't like adventure games where my character can die. (I did however like QTE in games like Shenmue and RE4). I also miss exploring beatifully designed locations like in Metroid Prime and scouring for hints about ancient civilizations. Having been replaying Deus Ex this week made me realize how much power it gives a game when it doesn't assume the gamer is a moron. I love how they did their political satire to the degree where their theories were plausible, at least as thought experiments. Indigio Prophecy succeded in that aspect as well; making the world, the characters and the story so that they didn't insult the gamers intelligence.

[K3V]

Shenmue I and II(Sega/Yu Suzuki, 2000 and 2001)


Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit(Quantic Dream/David Cage, 2005)


Dreamfall: The Longest Journey(Funcom/Ragnar Tornquist, 2006)



What do these games have in common?

They all contain characters that talk on the phone?

I also like how everyone's on the phone.

Yeah, what he said.

[Frogacuda]

Indigio Prophecy didn't gain anything from QTE and I don't like adventure games where my character can die... Indigio Prophecy succeded in that aspect as well

I was willing to let "Indigio" slide once, but not twice.