Point-And-Click Adventure Games

[Xarpho's Return]

while not having enough grasp of the english language to understand what the pun was.

Reminds me of Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It, which is a text adventure game where everything is based on puns and wordplay. It's barely comprehensible to an English speaker and would make zero sense if you didn't.

But as for the topic itself, I have to admit I really enjoyed Hardcoregaming101.net Presents: The Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures that I bought over ten years ago (though I really wouldn't recommend it unless you want to see some of the articles in print) but in practice I haven't come across a lot of classic adventures I liked. Sure, the LucasArts ones are generally good (plus Beneath a Steel Sky) but most of them just are slow-paced and very easy to get stuck by doing something wrong earlier on. Oh, and Riven is fun too.

 

[bango skank]

I’ve been playing through some old Lucasarts games this week, Sam & Max on Sunday, Curse of Monkey Island on Monday and Fate of Atlantis yesterday. In the final scene of FoA I noticed something about the music I didnt pick up on the last time I beat it years and years ago:

and https://youtu.be/bTY3s4kvc8k?t=20s

I don’t really have anything to say about it, just thought it was an interesting connection.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

I remember people saying the genre is not dead but I'm looking for months for a game that is not pozzed or a glorified walking simulator.

The best I found is The Case of the Golden Idol which is more of a puzzle game but a really good one at that.

 

[DeadwastePrime]

I remember people saying the genre id not dead but I'm looking for months for a game that is not pozzed or a glorified walking simulator.

i mean they kinda are glorified walking sims. you'd be hard pressed to find one that isnt basically that or a puzzle game. disco elysium is the best one so far tho. youve also got stasis (and stasis bone totem, the sequel)

 

[IDanceonTrannyGraves]

I’ve been playing through some old Lucasarts games this week, Sam & Max on Sunday, Curse of Monkey Island on Monday and Fate of Atlantis yesterday. In the final scene of FoA I noticed something about the music I didnt pick up on the last time I beat it years and years ago:

I don’t really have anything to say about it, just thought it was an interesting connection.

What connection am I supposed to be hearing?

 

[bango skank]

What connection am I supposed to be hearing?

They both use the Dies Irae melody. I did some more googling after posting and I guess it’s a pretty common musical theme so it’s not as interesting as I thought, but I only ever knew it as the theme from The Shining.

 

[Anon88]

I really like the idea of point and click games but sometimes they just end up being more annoying then fun. I've been playing The Longest Journey and I missed a single item back at the police station in chapter 3 and it took forever to figure out what that item was. Ended up having to use a guide Honestly back in the day I bet hardly anyone beat these types of games it's way too easy to miss stuff in them.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole 2]

The Crimson Diamond has been released.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

I really like the idea of point and click games but sometimes they just end up being more annoying then fun. I've been playing The Longest Journey and I missed a single item back at the police station in chapter 3 and it took forever to figure out what that item was. Ended up having to use a guide Honestly back in the day I bet hardly anyone beat these types of games it's way too easy to miss stuff in them.

Having a hotkey to show all items is the best quality of life part of the genre.

 

[Xarpho's Return]

The Crimson Diamond has been released.

Is that any game? I know it's probably not a secret that it looks exactly like Colonel's Bequest and plays similarly, but Colonel's Bequest is not a good game, especially how you can get locked out of doing tasks, possibly doing tasks wrong, and so on. Some of the death scenes are funny but not so much fun when you just walk in the wrong place and then you lose an hours' worth of save data.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole 2]

Is that any game? I know it's probably not a secret that it looks exactly like Colonel's Bequest and plays similarly, but Colonel's Bequest is not a good game, especially how you can get locked out of doing tasks, possibly doing tasks wrong, and so on. Some of the death scenes are funny but not so much fun when you just walk in the wrong place and then you lose an hours' worth of save data.

That's certainly not a secret, it started out as an art project to create graphics(maybe prints) in that limited pixel art style. Then it turned into a game.
It's not a sperg type of identical re-imagining with the same type of bullshit gotchas and all that, it is built around the creators fond and idealized memories of The Colonel's Bequest and with that comes some quality of life improvements.

 

[Shroom King]

Since no one has mentioned the MacVenture titles, here is a fan game made in the same vein as the NES Shadowgate, Deja Vu and Uninvited. It is pretty cool and is right up your alley if you like the MacVenture games.

 

[Xarpho's Return]

Since no one has mentioned the MacVenture titles, here is a fan game made in the same vein as the NES Shadowgate, Deja Vu and Uninvited. It is pretty cool and is right up your alley if you like the MacVenture games.

View attachment 6793490

I'm a little disappointed that it's more like the NES version than the computer versions (particularly the Mac version, nothing can match the crisp, high-resolution graphics of the Mac originals).

The reason is that the computer versions have a notably different interface. Some of it is a little annoying, like in Deja Vu, you drag your jacket to the window, then open it, then examine stuff inside and drag it around, then use it on the screen.

The NES versions in comparison just had a compressed list of items, simplified writing, and some censorship. A discussion in a user profile notes a few of the changes. In Shadowgate, the original version was "When you remove the book from its pedestal, the floor collapses, and you go with it. As you fall into darkness, you tell yourself that there must be a bottom to this pit. Your suspicions are confirmed as your head smashes into stone!", which became "When you remove the book from its pedestal, the floor collapses, and you fall to your death."

It's well known that Shadowgate got away with lots of stuff in heavy censorship eras, but that didn't prevent censorship in the NES games anyway (like changing references to being injected with something to pills).

That's not to say the Mac versions were better in every way, the drag-and-drop interface was finicky and were much harder than the NES versions with no-win scenarios out the wazoo. One such example was Shadowgate. In the NES version to enter the mansion you have to open the mailbox and get the pendant to enter. In the computer versions you can walk right in...but if you forgot the pendant you're screwed and won't find out until much, much later.

Maybe something with more like the computer versions in terms of writing and art, but some of the interface issues smoothed out.

 

[Clem Fandango]

Can anyone help me identify a game? I have very very vague memories of playing a point n click game on the Sega Master System many years ago. It was a rental so I never owned it, and the only thing I really recall is that it was some kinda sci-fi thing (maybe on a space station) and at some point you had to collect different coloured key cards.

It's been bugging me for years, and I've tried to look it up once or twice but my google-fu failed me. Surely there can't have been many point n click games released on the Master System?

 

[GenociderSyo]

It's been bugging me for years, and I've tried to look it up once or twice but my google-fu failed me. Surely there can't have been many point n click games released on the Master System?

Only thing I can think of is Day of the Tentacle, but I don't think that ever released on the master system.

 

[Clem Fandango]

Only thing I can think of is Day of the Tentacle, but I don't think that ever released on the master system.

Nah, definitely not that. Played that on a bunch of platforms but not Master System.

 

[bifftango]

Can anyone help me identify a game? I have very very vague memories of playing a point n click game on the Sega Master System many years ago. It was a rental so I never owned it, and the only thing I really recall is that it was some kinda sci-fi thing (maybe on a space station) and at some point you had to collect different coloured key cards.

It's been bugging me for years, and I've tried to look it up once or twice but my google-fu failed me. Surely there can't have been many point n click games released on the Master System?

This is just from a cursory search, as I have no experience with Master System adventure games, but would it happen to be Linus Spacehead's Cosmic Crusade?

 

[Clem Fandango]

This is just from a cursory search, as I have no experience with Master System adventure games, but would it happen to be Linus Spacehead's Cosmic Crusade?

Oh my god yes, that's it!!! Thank you so much, seriously that has been niggling me for years.

I remember it seeming so amazingly expansive and open world at the time, although I'm sure it's not that complicated compared to other titles in the genre.

But imagine playing Sonic and Alex Kidd, and then suddenly there's a game where you can talk to people and pick up items. It was mind blowing to 7 year old me. Maybe I'll revisit it someday.

Goddamn, I love this site. Thanks again.

 

[ButterflyBarbie]

Did anyone ever play the old Nancy Drew games?

 

[hawkisnight]

Nice thread. I've recently completed Dracula 1 and 2. It's more myst style games but whatever.

First one was really great. I really dig the atmosphere of starting town. Pretty spooky. The story is alright. I think it's after story of novel. You play as Jonathan trying to rescue his beloved from Dracula's Castle. The puzzles weren't too horribly complex but there were few headscratchers and pixel searching was limited. I didn't have to use a walkthrough even once but I did broke my rule of adventure games: if you can figure out which thingamajig put into another thingamajig after an half an hour just look it up. That just speaks good about the game.

Second game reminded me why genre is mostly dead and not very liked. Some puzzles were really ridiculous and I have no idea how anyone would anyone figure them out. There were also couple of puzzles which were really great. Some of them made me grab a piece of paper and a pen to note stuff which was fun. The greatest offender is pixel hunting. I spend so much time wandering looking what I am supposed to do and then I look it up and it turns out I missed some very not obvious thing on the screen. There were also many hidden objects you need to complete the story. Basically walkthrough mandatory. Absolutely hated that which could have been fixed with highlight button or making objects more stand out. I think I will take a break before the rest of the games. I had enough for quite a while.

From more recent adventure games few years ago I played Deponia trilogy. Puzzles were mostly ok. I don't remember really being stuck that much or constantly looking up walkthroughs. The games are not exactly peak comedy(it's German product after all) but they did made me smile few times. Mostly because main hero is basically adventure game protagonist incarnate. Very selfish, annoying everyone around him, constantly 'borrowing' stuff and playing hero who is detrimental to most people. I was quite invested in the story so I do recommend the games but with caution. The ending of the trilogy is not very good. I won't spoil anything but the retarded developer tried to be artsy fartsy with their stupid/wacky adventure game series and instead giving everyone hollywood ending they pull the rug under the player. It wasn't anything profound and of course there were quite a few explanations why its good but I was not happy. Neither were others from what I read online.