Adventure games

Did anybody else like playing the adventure game genre? Don't really see it any more these days apart from a handful of episodic games like Sam & Max and Bone.

Games these days seem to mainly be FPS, sport sims and strategy only.

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undomiel

I loved my Kings Quest and Hero Quest games. They were the greatest. Hero's Quest IV was my favouritest.

gojericho0

undomiel wrote:

I loved my Kings Quest and Hero Quest games. They were the greatest. Hero's Quest IV was my favouritest.

+1 and the smart ass Roger Wilco from Space Quest

dynamik

How would you define the adventure genre? Is it a midpoint between action and role-playing?

What games were you thinking about when you started this thread, tiersten?

tiersten

I never played Hero's Quest but I liked the other Sierra adventure games. Some of them were a bit frustrating like Police Quest series and the incredibly picky Codename: ICEMAN game however. You'd get punished for not strictly following some particular procedure. In the case of Codename: ICEMAN, you could end up in several unwinnable states because you didn't do something half an hour ago.

I'd say my favourite adventure games would be the Monkey Island series from 1 to 3. Never really got into the 4th game with the keyboard only interface.

Ahh... LucasArts and Sierra used to make some really good games...

astorrs

Yeah my wife is in the same boat as you tiersten, she misses the old Sierra classics and has been looking for a replacement for years. Now she's on the whole Spore kick and seems happy enough.

tiersten

dynamik wrote:

How would you define the adventure genre? Is it a midpoint between action and role-playing?

I guess so. Adventure games focused more on the plot and puzzle elements than reflex based gaming that an action game would go for. Its not the hack & slash style gameplay that the average role-playing game ends up being either.

JDMurray

Playing Zork, ADVENT, and Rogue on a PDP-11 back in the '80s. I didn't know how good I had it back then...

astorrs

JDMurray wrote:

Playing Zork, ADVENT, and Rogue on a PDP-11 back in the '80s. I didn't know how good I had it back then...

Well JD if you can find ZORK on an old 8" floppy, I can hook you up with a nice VAX 11/780 to run it on (sorry the PDP-11's have all been bin'd). Remember you have a two car garage for a reason...

snadam

so does "where in the world is carmen sandiego" count? If so, I miss that game!

dynamik

snadam wrote:

so does "where in the world is carmen sandiego" count? If so, I miss that game!

Right here, buddy!

jbrown414

I played just about every Sierra game because they were just awesome at the time. I think I played Return to Zork and Zork Nemesis. I also played Dragons Lair but never got around to Space Ace. I agree that the adventure game genre was more about the story and the puzzles and using logic to figure out what to do next.

undomiel

I played Zork I to death. Zork II and Zork III were fun but didn't get anywhere near the play time of Zork I. I even got to the point of where I would do speed runs through Zork I (pesky thief!) just for kicks. Which all too often ended up with me making a wrong turn in the maze and screwing up. Man I enjoyed that game. I should find a copy somewhere to see how much I still remember. Wishbringer was another great one as well. Taught me the word platypus! Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy was great as well.

I really enjoyed Space Quest at a friend's house but sadly never got a chance to really play it. Of course my parents wouldn't let me have Leisure Suit Larry.

rfult001

Are you kidding? I still play Leisure Suit Larry!

On another note, anyone remember Kings Quest or the Lord of the Rings game?

KGhaleon

Zork and King's quest were some oldies, but Grim Fandango will remain my favorite adventure game of all time. Shame the genre isn't that big anymore.

Some more recent adventure games that I really liked were the Syberia series(1 and 2) and "The Longest Journey" followed by the sequel "Dreamfall." I'd definitely recommend picking them up somewhere or online.

snadam

dynamik wrote:

snadam wrote:

so does "where in the world is carmen sandiego" count? If so, I miss that game!

Right here, buddy!

wow, she is really starting to show her age...

JDMurray

astorrs wrote:

JDMurray wrote:

Playing Zork, ADVENT, and Rogue on a PDP-11 back in the '80s. I didn't know how good I had it back then...

Well JD if you can find ZORK on an old 8" floppy, I can hook you up with a nice VAX 11/780 to run it on (sorry the PDP-11's have all been bin'd). Remember you have a two car garage for a reason...

I do still have boxes of 8" floppies in my three car garage, but no 3-phase current for the VAXen. :P

I might still have the UNIX source code to rogue that I downloaded on to a 5.25" floppy back in '83. (BTW, the Wizard's Password is "knave".)

loxleynew

How come no one has mentioned DoTT yet? (Day of the tentacle) One of the best! I just recently downloaded and played that and Space quest 5. I think SQ5 was the first space quest to come with in game voice, either that or SQ3 I forget lol.

snadam

how about X-Com Apocalypse? That game is badass!!! or Jagged Alliance? Im actually kinda confused what constitutes as an adventure game...

adventure island?

JDMurray

I'm still waiting for someone to mention Wizardry. This was the first adventure game I played on a PC (OK, an Apple ][).

henserlj

My very first adventure game that I played was called Pirate's Cove and it was text based. I played it on my VIC-20 and plugged the cartridge in the back.

When I got tired of that, I swapped it out for Lunar Lander.

tiersten

snadam wrote:

how about X-Com Apocalypse? That game is badass!!! or Jagged Alliance? Im actually kinda confused what constitutes as an adventure game...

Adventure game - Yes. Its Wikipedia but its accurate enough in this case. At least it is accurate right this minute...

The X-Com and Jagged Alliance series of games were both strategy games.

BeaverC32

I would consider games like Zelda and Metroid adventure games, where you explore large worlds, gain various powerups that expands what you have access to, etc. Then a suppose there is a subgroup for more specific gameplay, like Myst (puzzle adventure game).

Could be way off base here though...

snadam

BeaverC32 wrote:

I would consider games like Zelda and Metroid adventure games, where you explore large worlds, gain various powerups that expands what you have access to, etc. Then a suppose there is a subgroup for more specific gameplay, like Myst (puzzle adventure game).

Could be way off base here though...

Actually I tend to agree with your definition. I can see where JA and X-Com is more strategy based. That being said, Zelda is probably one of the most well-known adventure games, and I have played most of them

Myst was cool back in the day.

Based on that logic, would survival horror games (ie Resident Evil, Silent Hill, etc) be considered adventure games?

Man, Its such a convoluted genre, at least to me :P

undomiel

I remember Wizardry! Man that game frustrated me back in the day. I loved it.

Marble Madness anyone?

LBC90805

JDMurray wrote:

I'm still waiting for someone to mention Wizardry. This was the first adventure game I played on a PC (OK, an Apple ][).

Bard's Tale I, "TARJAN" is what you must speak to enter the Catacombs.

Kaminsky

henserlj wrote:

My very first adventure game that I played was called Pirate's Cove and it was text based. I played it on my VIC-20 and plugged the cartridge in the back.

Oh Yes.... Think there 4 or 5 of them in the end by Scott Adams ?

I got bored of playing these in the end and started going through the basic programming manual that came with the Vic 20 package which led to a career in IT.

My brother and friends couldn't understand how I could do the things I could do on it and when I tried explaining to them was the first ever time I managed to make a non techie's eyes glaze over ... That was 24-25 years ago.

Did anyone ever play the online text adventure AberMud ? Nearly failed my first year at uni as I got so into that and ended up writing a whole new zone for it called Mithendore Castle. Barely squeeked through my first year finals.

undomiel

I got into MUDs back in high school. I wasted a huge number of hours on those. Also got my dad's shell account at the university revoked because I tried running my own MUD under it.

Sheesh, dumb kids.

I thank MUDs for my current high typing speed. Helped me way more than any other typing programs out there.

loxleynew

What about monkey island~!!!

loxleynew

undomiel wrote:

I got into MUDs back in high school. I wasted a huge number of hours on those. Also got my dad's shell account at the university revoked because I tried running my own MUD under it. Sheesh, dumb kids. I thank MUDs for my current high typing speed. Helped me way more than any other typing programs out there.

Lol seriously. If anyone takes anything away from those games it's typing speed.

HonorThyYtseJam

Any Betrayal at Krondor fans here?

I've also played many of the games from the King's Quest series. Actually I recently picked up a compilation disc that contains all of the games from part 1 to 7. Good stuff!

Any Heroes of Might and Magic fans? I've been playing since part 2. Part 3 was great, part 4 was a horrible departure from what made the series so great. I am satisfied with part 5 though as many of the original gameplay elements that made the series so popular were brought back into play.