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Story arcs in adventure game series
Discussing adventure game series in another thread made me think. What adventure game series do you think have great story arcs -for main character(s) or about solving some greater conflict over several games?
Well, the most obvious choice: Gabriel Knight. There is always the main plot told very well and engaging way, and then there’s the character development and finally his relationship with Grace. The two latter definitely work through the entire trilogy.
Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier
I love the first three Phoenix Wright games, as it really shows how Phoenix grows as a defense attorney and a person (with the third game bringing everything together).
The first three Kamaitachi no Yoru (Banshee’s Last Cry) also work very well as a set: each sequel expanded on the events of the previous game in a meaningful way.
“Rationality, that was it. No esoteric mumbo jumbo could fool that fellow. Lord, no! His two feet were planted solidly on God’s good earth” - Ellery Queen, The Lamp of God
I love the first three Phoenix Wright games, as it really shows how Phoenix grows as a defense attorney and a person (with the third game bringing everything together).
The first three Kamaitachi no Yoru (Banshee’s Last Cry) also work very well as a set: each sequel expanded on the events of the previous game in a meaningful way.
Is there any other Japanese adventure games or visual novel series that are as easy to get into? I lived last year in light of Phoenix Wright games and miss something like them very much. Not to mention they managed to get some new tricks out of detective story genre.
Still, conflicts in adventure games tend to be solved in one game or continued in artifical matter with villain pretty much resurrecting. Now i remembered how Quest for Glory games introduce lands that hero will visit in sequels and role that one of characters from past games play in QFG4. I don’t mean Baba Yaga’s cameo that is just that -cameo, but Ad Avis and his role. It made me smile.
Most planned sequels and trilogies have story arcs that span multiple games. Of course a lot of them just take several games to finish the one main storyline (ending each game on a massive cliffhanger).
Is there any other Japanese adventure games or visual novel series that are as easy to get into? I lived last year in light of Phoenix Wright games and miss something like them very much. Not to mention they managed to get some new tricks out of detective story genre.
I’ll assume you have a DS. Have you played some of the other adventure games for it? Games like Hotel Dusk and its sequel Last Window, or Time Hollow. How about Ghost Trick (by the same creator as the Phoenix Wright trilogy)? Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past is also a good visual novel.
And I also really like the Zero Escape games (999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and Virtue’s Last Reward). Virtue’s Last Reward is a 3DS game, though.
Actually the Zero Escape games fit this thread perfectly. The first game, while mostly concluded (and ending on a serious mindrape), has a couple of characters and plot elements that are continued/expanded on in Virtue’s Last Reward. And Virtue’s Last Reward in itself ends on a massive cliffhanger that will see its conclusion in the (now sadly looking less and less likely to be actually made) third game in the series…
The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka
Most planned sequels and trilogies have story arcs that span multiple games. Of course a lot of them just take several games to finish the one main storyline (ending each game on a massive cliffhanger).
Yep - one which came instantly to mind, with the 5th and final part due out soon, is the Blackwell series. There’s certainly been very effective character and relationship development over the series, and (though it hasn’t always been the case) there’s currently a carry-over of the main storyline.
Tim’s comment re cliffhanger made me instantly think of Longest Journey/Dreamfall, which also fits to the question, especially once the next part comes out (hopefully) later in the year.
And then, as Millenia rightly says, Gabriel Knight is indeed a very obvious choice…for all the right reasons 
.
Agree with the Blackwell series, a great example. And TLJ indeed. Waiting the sequels to both eagerly here.
Though I think the success in those games is that there isn’t a cheap cliffhanger at the end of each game. I know some people disargee on Dreamfall and it does indeed have a cliffhanger, but there still is a storyline that gets finished, but one cannot reveal it without spoiling. All of those games work well on their own. Playing the others only makes the experience richer, it isn’t compulsory.
Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier
Tim’s comment re cliffhanger made me instantly think of Longest Journey/Dreamfall, which also fits to the question, especially once the next part comes out (hopefully) later in the year.
And then, as Millenia rightly says, Gabriel Knight is indeed a very obvious choice…for all the right reasons
And a further very obvious choice which also runs with Tim’s cliff-hanger (16 years but it’s nearly over!) is our current play-through - good old Tex Murphy.
Life is what it is.
The Gabriel Knight series is a classic example because each game tells a largely self contained story, while exploring a different theme and facets of its characters and their relationships.
When creating an ongoing saga, it can be very easy to focus so much on the overarching narrative that the individual episodes’ story structure suffers. Stories that invest too much in future instalments - particularly when there’s not a guarantee these future episodes will be completed or reach audiences - can end up very unsatisfying experiences if they don’t stand up to independent scrutiny and, in worst case scenarios, can even feel like prolonged adverts for the next product.
It can be a gamble, but a worthwhile one if done right and received well. You probably shouldn’t ever really feel that you’ve experienced a story that was *just* setting things up for next time - although episodic gaming has changed the format slightly, but I’d probably consider each ‘season’ as the story in those cases.
I love the first three Phoenix Wright games, as it really shows how Phoenix grows as a defense attorney and a person (with the third game bringing everything together).
The first three Kamaitachi no Yoru (Banshee’s Last Cry) also work very well as a set: each sequel expanded on the events of the previous game in a meaningful way.
Is there any other Japanese adventure games or visual novel series that are as easy to get into? I lived last year in light of Phoenix Wright games and miss something like them very much. Not to mention they managed to get some new tricks out of detective story genre.
As a big fan of the Phoenix Wright games, Danganronpa is the closest I’ve seen to that, by far.
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