• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Point & Click adventures in 2012. Best so far, the kickstarters and the future.

GhaleonQ

Member
edit: I'm about to try Syberia.

I can see a lot about the games that would appeal to you and a lot that would irritate you. I think it's the series I overrate the most, just because Sokal has interests that 1. are original 2. have depth to them. I'd say the same of Tornquist, but Sokal's storytelling style is much more mature and controlled. Syberia is very much the upgraded version of the The Longest Journey series, in my view.

Luckily, Sokal wants to return to video games someday, but I thought it was downright tragic that White Birds closed.
 

vareon

Member
This talk of Broken Sword reminded me to look the game at Steam and ho! The Trilogy is discounted, now at $2.50.

I mostly play light-hearted or comedic PnC adventures, guys. What should I expect with Broken Sword series?
 

mclem

Member
I mostly play light-hearted or comedic PnC adventures, guys. What should I expect with Broken Sword series?

Indiana Jones... if you controlled Brody.

It's certianly not a pure comedy, or even particularly light-hearted, but it does have many amusing moments. It doesn't have an Indy sort of action, though; George and Nico are - for the most part - the gentler sort of hero.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
I can see a lot about the games that would appeal to you and a lot that would irritate you. I think it's the series I overrate the most, just because Sokal has interests that 1. are original 2. have depth to them. I'd say the same of Tornquist, but Sokal's storytelling style is much more mature and controlled. Syberia is very much the upgraded version of the The Longest Journey series, in my view.

Luckily, Sokal wants to return to video games someday, but I thought it was downright tragic that White Birds closed.

I had some problems with Syberia 1, but I finished it over a weekend despite it. You pretty much hit the nail on the head in this post. Syberia 2 has been an improvement in every way. The things I liked are better and the things I had big problems with are either not present or toned down.

I was trying to describe why I liked Syberia to someone from GAF a few days ago and I realised that I'm far too close to adventure games to be able to actually recommend them confidently. I love them despite themselves, often. Syberia is a great example of that. Your post articulated the reasons to love it better than I could. The reasons I don't like it are not very interesting, in that they're completely self-evident if you've ever played the game before.

I also enjoyed both Ben There, Dan That games. It reminded me of being 12 and trying to make a movie, armed only with your parent's video camera and a love of the medium.
 

vareon

Member
Indiana Jones... if you controlled Brody.

It's certianly not a pure comedy, or even particularly light-hearted, but it does have many amusing moments. It doesn't have an Indy sort of action, though; George and Nico are - for the most part - the gentler sort of hero.

Cool. Does it have death or unwinnable situation? I prefer little tension on my PnC adventure, but it's pretty minor.
 

mclem

Member
Cool. Does it have death or unwinnable situation? I prefer little tension on my PnC adventure, but it's pretty minor.

No unwinnable situations. I *think* there are some 'deaths' in some late sequences - less a death, more a 'bad end' - but it's been a long time since I played the games (Hmm. Better rectify that!) - so I can't be sure.
 

epmode

Member
I also enjoyed both Ben There, Dan That games. It reminded me of being 12 and trying to make a movie, armed only with your parent's video camera and a love of the medium.
Those games deserve a lot more credit. Sure, they're doing almost nothing new, but having the best comedy adventure game writing since Lucasarts is enough for me. I hope Zombie Cow/Size Five continues to work on adventure stuff since their other games are a lot less interesting.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
Those games deserve a lot more credit. Sure, they're doing almost nothing new, but having the best comedy adventure game writing since Lucasarts is enough for me.

I meant thematically. Obviously, it took a whole lot of genuine talent. There was no mean-spirited back-hand there.
 

epmode

Member
I meant thematically. Obviously, it took a whole lot of genuine talent. There was no mean-spirited back-hand there.
I should have clarified:

I understood your point, I just think the games are unfairly overlooked in general! I was so impressed by the writing of the first game that I wound up paying for it even though it was freeware.
 
The best way to play adventure games for me is with family, especially cousins. Broken Sword was fun just because of that. Everyone trying to chip in with puzzles solutions, getting engrossed into the story and characters, laughing along to the funny dialogue.
 
The best way to play adventure games for me is with family, especially cousins. Broken Sword was fun just because of that. Everyone trying to chip in with puzzles solutions, getting engrossed into the story and characters, laughing along to the funny dialogue.


that sounds almost surreal... i wish i had cousins that came over and watch me play adventure games :(
 
I played the Sierra AGI/text parser games quite young and always played them with my mum to try and increase my vocabulary, it was dead fun sitting there and bouncing different ways to phrase answers in the game off of each other, it even stated this was the best way to play them in the manuals. I particularly remember trying to solve the berries/swamp puzzle in Space Quest 2 being overcome by this method.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
I'm trying to identify an adventure game I saw my cousin play when I was much younger. I think it had Syberia/TLJ like graphics, and there was a puzzle involving getting a painter some water. The game may have also featured a old-school Big-Daddy like diving suit, although I could be mixing up memories. Any ideas?
 
From the Steam sale thread :




What does GAF think about these games? I only played TNBT and it was okay. What about the three Runaways?

I love the first two Runaway games, particularly the second one. The third game was a let down as it's shorter and it didn't have as many quirky characters as the other two. Still enjoyable. Yesterday ended up being a disappointment as well. Way too short, not enough time to let the characters grow on you. Nice atmosphere and an okay story though.
 

Lime

Member
From the Steam sale thread :




What does GAF think about these games? I only played TNBT and it was okay. What about the three Runaways?

I think the Pendulo games aren't worth your time. Although they are good looking in some aspects, the puzzles, the writing and the tone are always disappointing to me. E.g. the humour in the game often amounts to goofy characters that you'd see in a low budget sitcom. I'm mostly basing this opinion on the Runaway games, but from what I played of the Next Big Thing, the same tone is present once again.
 

Sloane

Banned
hmm, no I don't think that's it. thanks, though!
Do you remember any other details or when you saw your cousin play it?

Edit: I remember some puzzle with a painter in Nibiru but that came out in 2005 or so and I can't remember a diving suit.
 
Do you remember any other details or when you saw your cousin play it?

Edit: I remember some puzzle with a painter in Nibiru but that came out in 2005 or so and I can't remember a diving suit.

Nibiru was first person too wasn't it? I took the Syberia/The Longest Journey reference as a nod to 3rd person?
 

vareon

Member
I think the Pendulo games aren't worth your time. Although they are good looking in some aspects, the puzzles, the writing and the tone are always disappointing to me. E.g. the humour in the game often amounts to goofy characters that you'd see in a low budget sitcom. I'm mostly basing this opinion on the Runaway games, but from what I played of the Next Big Thing, the same tone is present once again.

One thing I get from Next Big Thing is that the humor is weirdly placed and voice-acted and the one-liners just didn't seem to click sometimes. I was guessing it's a translation problem.
 
Sorry for lack of updates, I haven't been doing as much digging these past few weeks. Few things going down at home.

Did notice this when launching steam, The Book of Unwritten Tales is hitting Steam July 31st.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/215160/?snr=1_7_suggest__13

Always good to see more games hitting Steam.

I'm going to buy this despite not being in the mood right now for an adventure game. It's apparently pretty good and I want to support it. Same with Deponia.
 
Yup I'm very glad that The Book of Unwritten Tales is coming to Steam. Been wanting to play this game for something like 2 years now.

It's going to cost $19.99 on release btw.
 
In regards to Unwritten Tales, I'm copying some quick thoughts I made in the Steam thread about it:

So I played the first chapter of The Book of Unwritten Tales tonight. The puzzles so far have been item related. Collect a bunch of items, combine them, one them on objects. Nothing hard at all. Characters have been pretty charming and funny. The humor in general has been very good, better than I was expecting. There's even a Monkey Island reference at one point. Graphically, the game is gorgeous.

I'm not entirely in the mood to play an adventure game right now but I wanted to at least play a part of the game to see how it is. Not sure when I'll continue on to finish it but from what I've seen so far I'm pleased.
 
Has anyone tried the JULIA game mentioned in the OP? I'm kinda scared going in blind even though it's intriguing me.

If you're into the older style of text/interface adventure, go for it. I personally disliked it heavily and thought it wasn't that great. I was looking forward to it until I played the demo.

Demo
 

megalowho

Member
Spent a few hours on Book of Unwritten Tales last night and I'm thoroughly charmed. The mismash of cultural touchstones doesn't always hit for me, but the writing feels authentic and the voice acting is uniformly great. Mostly item combination puzzles so far and they're all pretty intuitive, hasn't been too taxing mentally but it's fun to go through the motions all the same. Great look to the game as well, despite more than a few creepy faces. Nowhere near approaching Pendulo levels of creepiness, though.

Definitely plan on keeping up with this one, it's a breath of fresh air after finding myself not able to get into Resonance or Yesterday all that much. I'll go back to those games eventually, just have always preferred a lighter, more humorous tone for the genre which KING Art seems to have accomplished quite nicely without too many caveats.
 
It's Daedalic time again.
TRA_logo_eng.png

chars.png

The Rabbit's Apprentice

This game began with an idea that Matt, his brother Sebastian, and I were kicking around at a lake cottage in Ireland back in the fall of 2009. After finishing Stitch, Matt hired on with Daedalic Entertainment in Hamburg, Germany, pitched TRA, and has since been acting as team lead and background artist to develop the concept. This is a huge opportunity for Matt, and promises to be a new treasure for adventure game fans. I have great confidence in Matt’s ability to produce another spectacular game that lives up to standards set by the WMYT series.

The Rabbit’s Apprentice is slated to ship this November as a German language title ONLY, we’ll just have to wait a bit longer for the English localization. In the meantime, check out the teaser site at http://www.rabbitsapprentice.de, or see some higher-res art with an intriguing teaser (in German) here

TRAscreen01.jpg


TRAscreen02.jpg


TRAscreen03.jpg


Adventure Gamer interview with Matthias Kempke (developer)
http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/22107

Looks like a 2013 title in English but so far from the sounds of it, will be worth the wait.
Makes me want to check out the developers previous work, What Makes You Tick
 
Posted this in the Steam thread and I figured I'd share it here as well.

Secret Files 3 has been added to the coming soon section (Steam). It's a point-and-click adventure and has been one of my most anticipated games for awhile.

header_292x136.jpg


http://store.steampowered.com/app/216210/?snr=1_4_4__105_1

The first game is pretty good while the second isn't bad, they got rid of the voice actor to play the main character and I didn't care for the new girl who did the main character's voice. Also, the locations weren't quite as interesting to me. Puzzles are fine in both but I thought they were more challenging in the first game.

Looks like a 2013 title in English but so far from the sounds of it, will be worth the wait.
Makes me want to check out the developers previous work, What Makes You Tick

That looks great. Next year is now even better for the genre. I've played the first, free What Makes You Tick and it's not bad. Pretty standard stuff which is fine. I've been meaning to play the paid sequel.
 
Top Bottom