Adventurish games

[fivemack]

I've played, with great enjoyment, graphical adventure games from Day of the Tentacle to Discworld Noir, by way of Grim Fandango and Curse of Monkey Island. Are such things still made?

A cursory look around GAME at the weekend failed to show me any games of that form, and I couldn't even work out what there was that would be a single-player first-person not-pure-shoot-em-up game with a plot - Little Big Adventure, Flashback were ones of those that I liked, in what is I fear now the far past. Half-Life 2 had too little plot and too much shooting for my taste; Oblivion sounds as if it might appeal, but I've often had trouble finding the plot-line among the universe in that kind of free-flowing RPG, and got bored. I might well like a big-world lots-of-little-missions game, if any existed with a more pleasant world-view than the GTA series or Canis Canem Edit: do they?

Comments

[emperor]

One of the Final Fantasy series? I hear good things about FF 12 (gamespot rated it 9.0); you don't specify platform, however...

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

I think this niche is now fill to overflowing with the MMPORG grams

[pompe.livejournal.com]

Oblivion is rather much of many little missions, the main plotline isn't that extensive (and can be followed strictly or completely ignored) - but it is a lot of combat. I don't like the Japanese stuff, but they are often rather plot-strict.

However, graphical adventure games - there was one called "The Longest Journey" which had a relatively recent but ultimately worse sequel.

I like the Bioware games which while often rather combat-oriented also have a good deal of plot.

[hilarityallen.livejournal.com]

Well, Monkey Island related things are still around.

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

No One Lives Forever is lots of fun - a sort of Austin Powersy retro Bond spoof.

[fivemack.livejournal.com]

Yes, that and the sequel were fantastic games, and ate many an evening while I was doing my PhD. Likewise Deus Ex and sequel; I never really got in to the Thief sequence. The most recent couple I played were Dungeon Siege and its sequel, but those are basically the same experience as reading the D&D Monster Manual: umpteen different kinds of monsters from umpteen different landscapes come at you, you hit them with axes, they die, they drop a slightly better axe for you, and you proceed to a slightly different landscape in which slightly different monsters are drawn to your beckoning axe.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Oblivion is easier than most to find the plot(s). You wander around and talk to people, and when they mention something that is a quest, it shows up in your special quest book, and if you make that your primary quest, a little arrow on the map shows you where you should be going to do the next bit. You can switch quests at any time. Also, you can go for a walk and pick flowers and then make alchemical potions out of the flowers. This is the killer ap of Oblivion for me. I've pretty much done everything in it, but I still occasionally go for a walk between one of my lovely houses (you can buy houses and furnish them) and another, picking flowers and doing alchemy along the way.

[zorac.livejournal.com]

If you're after pure adventures, then definitely check out The Longest Journey. It's a few years old, but very much in the vein of the LucasArts classics. If you all else fails you can pick up a copy cheaply via Steam (http://www.steampowered.com/) - but don't bother with the sequel...

Just seen one

[paul.dean.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

Hi Tom, long time no see, but I do have a look now and then at your journal. I've just read a review for a game called The Experiment which has just come out and might be what you're looking for. Haven't played it yet, but if you get it you can tell me if it's worth buying...