[fruithead]

So, I'm going out on a limb because I might be putting down some games very near and dear to some of you but lately I'm disappointed with adventure games. The last few I've picked up have been a little dry and dull.

Examples, you ask: N.I.B.I.R.U., Moment of Silence and Secret of Atlantis. These are all games I've purchased in the the last few months and haven't finished a single one. Normally I hate insulting adventure games since I can appreciate how much of a feat it is to even make one and these are well made games but they just don't have that something adventure games used to have. We need a new Gabriel Knight, Grim Fandango of Longest Journey--games that were just so good you couldn't step away from your computer.

(I must admit my purchases haven't been all bad, for all their faults, I bought and enjoyed Secret Files and Broken Sword 4)

Am I the only one feeling a little disillusioned lately? I'm just really hoping the next crop of games (Vampyre Story, Gray Matter, Culpa Innata) turn out to be better.

[Crapstorm]

Originally Posted by fruithead

Am I the only one feeling a little disillusioned lately?

Not at all.

[tsa]

Everybody is always going on about Grim Fandango, Gabriel Knight and The Longest Journey. People forget that they were rare gems surrounded by 'lesser' adventure games. You can't expect every game to be as good as the classics, and if you do you're bound to be disappointed. You tell us yourself there are recent games that you enjoyed, so what's the problem?

[rodin]

Well, I found wintersun to be a bit of a letdown. It has it's moments but it's too slow. It could be because I'm from holland and didnt mind playing the german version.

[NemelChelovek]

Definitely been disappointed recently. The only adventure I've played in the past few years that I thought was a real classic was Scratches. Other than that, it's all been pretty mediocre. Some examples:

Nibiru was just a horrible festering pile of corpse parts; I have nothing else to say about it. Secret Files: Tunguska was only slightly better; at least the characters had personalities. Moment of Silence had a great story. That's it. Should've been a book or a movie, not a game. Keepsake had some good puzzles, but its story wasn't engaging and its characters were wooden. Barrow Hill was a mixed bag; puzzles and concept were good, but playing it felt like watching a movie that had been muted. And dammit, all of these games got above average reviews on Adventure Gamers; the only one that deserved it was Moment of Silence, just because the story made it a really enjoyable experience. To be honest, I bought all of these games (with the exception of Nibiru, which I won) at least partly based on AG reviews; now when it comes to finding a good game, I look elsewhere for opinions. Ironically, I enjoyed Daemonica (except for the awful romantic subplot), which got a lower score from AG than all of the above.

I was excited about Undercover for a while, but it just looks like more of the same to me now. My hopes are up for Culpa Innata and Overclocked, but with all the recent disappointment, I don't know how long they'll stay up.

[aries323]

I have been very satisfied and content with my adventure games buying lately, partly because I just bought King's Quest and Space Quest Collection.
I also have bought Barrow Hill, Keepsake, SF: Tunguska and some other great adventure games.

I did try the the demos for Nibiru and for Scratches, but really didn't like these games. I did however recently try a demo for Hungarian game, called Yoomurjak's Ring which I encourage you all to at least try. It is one of the best adventure games in recent years, imho...

[Groopy]

Originally Posted by rodin

Well, I found wintersun to be a bit of a letdown. It has it's moments but it's too slow. It could be because I'm from holland and didnt mind playing the german version.

I agree, I find it really disappointing

For some reason I don't like Operation Wintersun, so far I don't have any feeling with the game. It's like I'm an outsider giving instructions instead of being part of the game. It just doesn't feel like I'm in Germany during the WW.
Wich leaves me less interested in the game as in other adventures.

On the other hand, Sam & Max was great and I liked Tunguska too, so I'm not that disappointed

[Crapstorm]

Originally Posted by tsa

You can't expect every game to be as good as the classics, and if you do you're bound to be disappointed.

I certainly don't expect every game to be as good as the classics. My expectations have pretty much hit rock bottom, and still I have trouble getting through some of these new games.

[Henke]

Those games you mentioned isn't the best ones recently released, it's that simple. "Sam and Max" and Dreamfall are for example much better games.

[Lacrima]

I definitely have at least SOME catching up to do in the department of adventure games, both old and new, but I actually like the trend some games are taking. I love puzzles that make me think and give me that warm tingly feeling inside when I've managed to crack an especially tough one, but those are SUCH rare cases, because I usually have a hard time relating to the design of any of those classics and how often did I have the correct solution to the puzzle and just "told" the game the wrong thing or clicked the wrong spot. For me, adventure games are stories told by immersing the player, since, you know, that's what an adventure should be like, I guess (and I mean the thing itself, not the genre, while the genre is as close as we get to the real thing at times, presumably). Those classics often made me feel frustrated because of their design and took the fun out of things. Some of those were more like a story around puzzling instead of the opposite. Maybe it's just that I'm from a different generation of gamers and spoiled by todays advanced and comfortable Game Design (I don't mind graphics that much as long as they reach 16 colors. Well, I'm that picky, yes). Still, my favo(u)rite* adventure games - or those I remember most fondly - are not those of more than 10 years ago and I am looking forward to (playing) so many of the current titles that I am rather content with the way things are. Then again, I do not solely play adventure games and there are other games out there worth playing or at least trying out.

Anyways, Nibiru and the Moment of Silence are examples of games that are a bit on the dull side. Of course, the Moment of Silence is by no means dull story-wise, but the puzzles thrown in your way and the overall atmosphere are really hard to endure, in my opinion. Nibiru was a short, uneventful experience, but as far as I recall one of those adventures that didn't give me too many problems with their puzzle design. Tastes differ, therefore recommendations from my side are useless, apparently because the world at large disagrees with mine (taste, that is). But the titles to come and some of the current titles are worth checking in to, and some of these have really managed to pull of creating an engrossing gaming experience. Not so much with the gaming in Dreamfall's case, but what an experience! nonetheless. IMHO.
(Principally, for me there should be two to three categories of games: Broken Sword One-ish, Still Lifesque and Dreamfall-like. Great blend of puzzles and stories with the occasional detour for puzzles' sake, a story told by using puzzles (and their like!) to create interaction, yet not deter from the main part and hinder the pacing, and storyplaying thingys, respectively. Of course, that's just me, and it's perfectly fine if Game Developers try to experiment with genres (just, please, no Fahrenheit-accidents)).
My bottom line is, that, yes, times do change, though this doesn't mean everything gets worse. There are a lot of adventures being produced lately and they are actually covering a wide range of interests, mainly probably not too seasoned adventure gamers, so I understand a certain degree of dismay, but I do think - just as xx[x] years ago - there are games average, bad and great alike.

*no British spelling allowed?

(Been some time since I last posted here, as I recall. And sorry for the partial rambling.)

[MikaelS]

Going bit off topic, just wanted to say I LOVED Moment of Silence. Gameplay kinda sucked on it yes, but the atmosphere the game created was so perfect. It took you along, made you feel like you were in some futuristic thriller yourself.

Other than that and Still Life and Broken Sword 4 ( ending was huge letdown though) during past few years though, yes it's been a bit disappointing. I didn't see Undercover even as an average game; I thought it was simply awful. Everything about it was bad in my opinion, and that has been the biggest letdown for me past few years ( I really anticipated this game), everything about it felt just so lazy and half-thought. Fail.

Sam and Max Season 1 could've not arrived on better time, the whole season of it is one of the best and funniest adventuring experiences I've ever had.
As for Overclocked, I'm very confident about it. Unless I'm mistaken, it's from the very creators of Momen of Silence? Also the whole consept in that game looks so promising.

It's not golden days of adventure games anymore...but it certainly could be worse too.

[tsa]

Originally Posted by Tower of Power

It's not golden days of adventure games anymore...but it certainly could be worse too.

I agree wholeheartedly with that. Have you noticed that we have a new article about a new or upcoming adventure game on the homepage almost every day now? The adventure genre has definitely been fired from the hospital and is on its way to a full recovery. As a very nice example of this, Jack "compained" here that in the past it was very hard to make a good hype-o-meter list because there were not enough interesting candidates, but nowadays it's also very hard to make a good hype-o-meter list because there are so many! And indeed there are so many interesting games to look out for! And I have played more interesting games in the past three years than in the 6 or 7 years before that. So if you're still disappointed by the quality of recent games you either have set your standards too high, or you were unlucky and picked the wrong games. And don't forget that with adventure games it's the same as with popular music: it's often worth to browse the indie games because they are often much more fun than the mainstream games.

[sierramindy]

I'm currently playing Undercover: Operation Wintersun and I'm not too enthusiastic about it. I keep hoping it will get better as I play it and get more involved with the story.
I miss those golden days of Sierra and LukasArts. I recently replayed King's Quest 5: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder (on GameTap) and it surprised me how easy it was to die in the game. Funny, but I didn't remember that about the game at all although the game was a favorite of mine. Still is, and that is because I liked the 2 main characters in it, King Graham and Cedric (well, he is an owl, but still a character in more ways than one) and enjoyed adventuring with them. I can't say that about most of today's games.
Still, I did like Moment of Silence, NiBiRu, and Secret Files: Tunguska but those while not "old" games, aren't "new" either. Dead Reefs is new and no way did I like it or even finish it.

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

This is hard for me the quantify because I've been collecting games old and new. I have over the past year played new games that I've enjoyed--I'm not sure there is some current 'bad game' trend.

[Davies]

I'm disappointed with my recent choices, mostly because they included Mystery of the Druids (spit).

Between work and flu and more work, I haven't actually played anything for over a month. Maybe two. Awww. Have some games partly played and on hold, but it's been so long I'll have to start over from the beginning.

[misa]

I've been pretty happy with my choices lately. I know that most of the newer games will never live up to my favourites, but as long as I'm entertained and challenged by puzzles I'm a pretty happy camper.

I tend to have a few game installed at the same time and flip through them until one of them really grabs me. When none of them do, I start checking out some of the underground games because they are actually made by gamers who know what they want out of a game. So if you're feeling in a bit of a game funk, definitely check out the underground games!

[misslilo]

At the moment I have these going:
1) The Cameron Files: Pharaohs Course
2) Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened
3) The Watchmaker
4) Sam & Max Season 1 - EP 4-6

I'm pretty sure I'm never going to finish the first 2, since they are 1st person games - they somehow can't keep my interest.
Maybe because I never get to see my character thus not identifying me with him/her/it

I'm impatiently waiting for the new games to be released( here in denmark) - Jack Keane, Agatha Christie: Evil under the sun, Treasure Island, Sinking Island, Gray Matter, A Vampyre Story

[ThePillarOfLight]

Before I started frequenting Adventure Gamers, I was disapointed in a few of my gaming choices. I was unfortunate enough to try the Crystal Key and the Messenger, which I thought were quite pathetic and meager attempts at adventure gaming. Wastes of my time. And I'm probably going to be the only one saying this, but I thought Syberia was only so-so. I suppose the clock-work people theme didn't really do much for me. Nor did the ending. Finally, Myst 5. The choice to switch from real people to cg was horrid. I miss actually seeing people, a theme that reoccurred throughout the first four games. Plus I still hate that drawing slate.

Recently acquired games I was quite pleased with include Amber - Journeys Beyond, Still Life, and Beneath a Steel Sky. Came across Amber at a thrift store for a buck. Was very pleased with that.

I'm poised to order The Longest Journey any day now, as I've read so much about it here. The demo was fun too. We'll see how it goes.

[smulan]

Well. No need to be disappointed. No post in this thread mentions Dave Gilberts three games, The Shivah, Blackwell Legacy and Blackwell Unbound. All three from the last 2 years and very good games.

[GhostPirateLechuck]

The problem is that now days so few are published. Most of us play every new game and we can't be selective in ones we choose. We used to be bowled over with adventures but most of them were bad.