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Erkki

Random Ramblings

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I have something to say but didn't want to create a new thread for just that topic. So maybe this can be the topic where you can just rant a bit if you have something to say about computer and video games that isn't really specific enough for another thread.

I've played a few adventure games recently (To the Moon, Book of Unwritten Tales, Back to the Future) and wanting more, went to adventuregamers.com to look for recent reviews to see if there was anything else good (haven't been keeping up with them point'n'clicks).

I know, review scores suck, but as I haven't been keeping up and reading about these games, the scores are as good a place as any to start looking. Somewhat surprisingly, when I looked at the last two year's reviews, the best scores were not necessarily given to traditional adventure games. Lots of games with 4/5, but above 4 were these games:

Book of Unwritten Tales

L.A. Noire (ok, that decided it, I'm going to get the PC version)

Portal 2

Stacking

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (a DS game, I don't have a DS)

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Heavy Rain

(I excluded some reviews of old games from the nineties or their remakes)

Holy crap, only 2 of those can be considered traditional point & click adventures (I'm assuming Ghost Trick is one)! Or maybe 3 if you count Heavy Rain among those.

So most of what AdventureGamers thinks are good recent games for adventure game fans aren't actually traditional adventures! I think this good -- adventure game elements are finally appearing strongly in other types of games and I want more of that! I also would like to see more developers who still make traditional point'n'clicks stepping away from that traditionalism. Argh, I've probably talked about this wish before on numerous occasions so I'll stop now.

I don't remember thinking about it this way before, but essentially these games (Amnesia, Portal, LA Noire, Stacking, Heavy Rain, probably some others as well) are almost bringing adventure games back to the mainstream, in a new and possibly improved form.

[edit] oh my god, justadventure.com has had a redesign! incredible. that site still used to look like 1996 when I last looked at it.

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Also, it just struck me that if I want to play more adventure games, I should try the Blackwell games. Right? And I still haven't started playing Shivah or completed Ben There, Dan That.

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Also, it just struck me that if I want to play more adventure games, I should try the Blackwell games. Right? And I still haven't started playing Shivah or completed Ben There, Dan That.

The Shivah is absolutely fantastic. :)

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I would just like to say that Ghost Trick is a pretty incredible game that i wish more people would have noticed, it is seriously one of the best adventure games i have ever played. (It is also not a traditional point and click, though it maybe has more of that design dna than some of the other examples provided.)

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Also, it just struck me that if I want to play more adventure games, I should try the Blackwell games. Right? And I still haven't started playing Shivah or completed Ben There, Dan That.

Yeah!

The Shivah

Emerald City Confidential

The 3 Blackwell Games

Ben There, Dan That/Time Gentlemen Please

Gemini Rue

Sam & Max

Tales of Monkey Island

all the other TellTale stuff

There's tons of great point and click stuff out there... but I would never trust AdventureGamers to point me to it.

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Also, nice idea for a thread. I've been wanting to start something similar myself, but I wasn't sure how it would sit with everyone.

Also, also: My lawyers will be in touch regarding the thread title. :edge:

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[edit] oh my god, justadventure.com has had a redesign! incredible. that site still used to look like 1996 when I last looked at it.

I had to see this to believe it. On another note, why does this site still exist? Who is their readership?

Funny enough, their forum is exactly how I remember, a bunch of angry old codgers. On the front page, I can already see someone complaining about the site redesign.

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There's tons of great point and click stuff out there... but I would never trust AdventureGamers to point me to it.

I'm kind of amazed at how, err, much I disagree with AdventureGamers. Both staff and readers gave Heavy Rain a best story award, which kind of confuses me. It's ridiculous coming off The Wire to Heavy Rain and seeing the difference in writing quality.

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I'm kind of amazed at how, err, much I disagree with AdventureGamers. Both staff and readers gave Heavy Rain a best story award, which kind of confuses me. It's ridiculous coming off The Wire to Heavy Rain and seeing the difference in writing quality.

Indeed, here's one my favourite quotes from AdventureGamers:

Grim Fandango:

"The one part of the game that did not work for me was the soundtrack. There are points where I felt the music perfectly fit the action going on in the game, but mostly I found it too heavy and not well suited to the game’s theme. The sort of '20s era jazz used in the first part of Manny’s journey fails to create much ambience or atmosphere, often proving distracting and bothersome."

Yes, the music of Grim Fandango is the worst thing about that game. It fails to create any atmosphere and totally doesn't suit the game. Right.

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Indeed, here's one my favourite quotes from AdventureGamers:

Grim Fandango:

"The one part of the game that did not work for me was the soundtrack. There are points where I felt the music perfectly fit the action going on in the game, but mostly I found it too heavy and not well suited to the game’s theme. The sort of '20s era jazz used in the first part of Manny’s journey fails to create much ambience or atmosphere, often proving distracting and bothersome."

Yes, the music of Grim Fandango is the worst thing about that game. It fails to create any atmosphere and totally doesn't suit the game. Right.

I listen to the soundtrack a lot and have not gotten more than an hour or two into grim fandango. I think that kinda speaks to how good it is.

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Hah weird, I always figured most people felt Grim Fandango's soundtrack was one of the best sounding and best suited game soundtracks of all time.

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Hah weird, I always figured most people felt Grim Fandango's soundtrack was one of the best sounding and best suited game soundtracks of all time.

They do, because it is!

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Why do developers hire half-talented hacks like RA Salvatore and Orson Scott Card to "imagine" their video game worlds? Honestly, it hasn't made a difference. Neither one of these people has created something halfway original, and, as far as I know, halfway good, since 1986. I wasn't a glint in my father's eye then.

The world of Zeno Clash is more interesting and (as far as I can tell) original than the crap either man has contributed to.

If your fantasy game has a variation on elves, dwarves, ye mighty rangers and orcs, you are - unless with a specific purpose - simply retreading old ground. RA Salvatore couldn't imagine a hot meal if he was starving in the Canadian wilderness - in February. Hyperbole aside, I'm not a fan.

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Not necessarily wanting to pull the rug from under established (non-video game) writers being hired to write video games, but ones does get the idea that the media are so far apart that it's a different ball game. These guys (including Hollywood guys doing it) might be great at writing linear stories, but they might be huge amateurs when it comes to interactivity.

That's not to say their worldbuilding might not be awesome.

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I feel like the best potential game story would come from someone who knows game design writing the basic plot (which may or may not be awful, but would at least fit the design of the game) and then someone who actually writes for a living filling in the details, but that would probably be pretty disastrous, too, now that I type it out. U:

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Not optimistic about Kingdoms of Amalur?

The gameplay looks fun, but I'm expecting to get tired of the world fast. That having been said, some of the creatures look nice. They clearly enjoyed designing those.

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