My Dissapointment With Adventure Game Fans

[jaeger138]

Recently, Telltale Games started a great deal on their website. Called the 'Adventure Bundle 2010', it offered 4 games (a lot more if you consider one of them was the full collection on King's Quest games) for the measly price of $19.95. A few days later it added a 5th game to this collection and stated that a 6th, a Sam & Max title, would be released for download if they sold 5000 units. To add to this, 25% of the proceeds would go to one (or all) of 5 charities. A great deal I'd say.

I am saddened to report that at the time of writing, on the final day of the sale only 1567 units were sold. What's wrong with people?! In all my years I have never seen a greater deal for adventure gamers. You may not know all the titles, you may not like some, you may already own some but the point is this, when I was offered the chance to purchase all these titles at such a low price, with the chance of getting a Sam & Max game thrown in I was ecstatic. As soon as I had the money to spare, I spared it. Telltale recieved my cash and I recieved some classic adventures and some great titles; hours of fun to be had all for a low, low price. Not only that, I did my bit by adding to the coffers of some worthwhile charities.

Why didn't anyone else? I would have thought an offer like this would not have been passed up by the community at large and at LEAST 5000 units would have been sold. I thought it would smash that target easily. But it didn't and hasn't.

Maybe there's some factor I'm not considering, maybe it's not as great a deal as I thought it was to others, but what I would like is an explanation from you adventure game fans out there. Why didn't you want to buy this? It was advertised in a news article right here on the Escapist to boot.

Right now, I'm dissapointed in all you chaps and chapettes and I want answers!

/fingerwaggle

http://www.telltalegames.com/adventurebundle
By a simple click or copy and paste you can ammend these mistakes you've made and placate my waggling finger. Also, I'm pretty sure there isn't much time left on the deal so if you want it grab it now!!!

 

[Erana]

Everyone's already played most of the games they've offered. I didn't read on after I saw some what they were selling in that sale.

 

[jaeger138]

I've only recently discovered telltale and rediscovered my love of adventure games so I'm unaware of the popularity of the titles but do so many people really already own these? Isn't it quite a silly move by telltale then to use a lot of popular titles rather than a couple less played and a couple newer ones? Is this really Telltale biting it's own behind?

Lol, it's hardly a difficult site to discover but a link shall be provided in the original post after an edit. I'm surprised though, it was a news article here on the Escapist but I'll admit, I didn't hear of it anywhere else and only visited the website for the first time when I bought the games.

 

[NotSoNimble]

Gimme Day of the Tentacle and Zak McKrakken and I would buy them.

Not a fan of the Kings Quests nor Sam and Max. Most people probably already own the old adventure games tho, so why would they buy them again? If they were all redone like Monkey Island maybe, but I don't think they are.

EDIT: Space Quest games where more fun, for me, than Kings Quest ones.... not that anyone asked.

 

[oplinger]

There aren't many adventure game fans out there.

 

[jaeger138]

There aren't many adventure game fans out there.

I'd disagree, I'd say there are more now than there ever were. Puzzlers like Professor Layton have put more and more people on to games with a riddle here and a puzzle there and the successes of the Monkey Island titles has been phenomenal. Also, there seems to be a lot of buzz about Telltale's upcoming Back To The Future game.

 

[Aidinthel]

*shrug* I'm not a big adventure game player. Honestly, I just don't have the patience to figure most puzzles out. Plus I already own the PA games.

 

[Tanis]

I think one of the issue is, it's digital.

If they had released some kind of physical box set, I could see it doing a LOT better.
But w/o it being released on Steam or PSN or XBL...it's really not going to do all that well.


Word of mouth works GREAT for a retail game, but only because people have various sources to buy it from.

 

[Dexiro]

I had no idea about this D;

Even worse... i won't be able to get the money before the offer ends :C

 

[jaeger138]

I agree that had this sort of thing been offered on the PSN or XBLA it would have done much better, and it would have been nice to see a few more adventure titles on the PSN for sure but I'll admit that hardcore adventure fans are usually in the smaller numbers so it may not have made enough of a difference. To add to that, I'm sure they would have raised the unlock cap, plus it's a lot of work to port these games over so it's just not a viable option if the games aren't already present on the systems.

I'm just sad I didn't get Sam & Max really, lol. But still, it would have been nice to see more support for Telltale, especially when it's such a good deal. Maybe they should have taken out some ads or something though.

 

[migo]

Adventure games suck. I tried out the free Sam & Max download that was offered a while back, it was horrible. Nobody likes them anymore, that's why the genre died in the first place, and there are just a few die hards left. Apparently 1567 diehards.

 

[sageoftruth]

I for one, despise King's Quest, particularly the games that came out before point and click was invented. My friend had me play them and I felt like a schmuck for doing so.

 

[DonMartin]

Finished The Secret of Monkey Island SE yesterday..

I AM FAN OF ADVENTURE GAEM.

...but the genre really need to be adapted to today's audiences for a rebirth. Otherwise, we just have the old fans replaying the old games.

ON TO MONKEY ISLAND 2 SE!

 

[Turtlecatpurrz]

I don't know if anyone here is still interested in this, but they extended the sale and it apparently ends today. I'm thrilled to discover this fact personally since I didn't know the bundle existed, and it has a game I've been meaning to buy anyway (Whispered World).

www.telltalegames.com for anyone who wants to visit.

Also, they are up to 1945 sales now.

Sad to see that we aren't going to get the Sam and Max game.

 

[Chal]

...boring pile of dung that was Myst...

Ouch. I thought Myst was a fantastic series of adventure games. They had several rich worlds to explore with some great characters to boot. Then again, I can't really call myself a fan of the genre, but that's basically my childhood you just discarded.

Your main point is something I have to agree with, however. The increased variety in modern games resulted in the obsolescence of the genre. I've personally moved on to RPGs for my own adventures.

 

[krimson_dropz]

Recently, Telltale Games started a great deal on their website. Called the 'Adventure Bundle 2010', it offered 4 games (a lot more if you consider one of them was the full collection on King's Quest games) for the measly price of $19.95. A few days later it added a 5th game to this collection and stated that a 6th, a Sam & Max title, would be released for download if they sold 5000 units. To add to this, 25% of the proceeds would go to one (or all) of 5 charities. A great deal I'd say.

I am saddened to report that at the time of writing, on the final day of the sale only 1567 units were sold. What's wrong with people?! In all my years I have never seen a greater deal for adventure gamers. You may not know all the titles, you may not like some, you may already own some but the point is this, when I was offered the chance to purchase all these titles at such a low price, with the chance of getting a Sam & Max game thrown in I was ecstatic. As soon as I had the money to spare, I spared it. Telltale recieved my cash and I recieved some classic adventures and some great titles; hours of fun to be had all for a low, low price. Not only that, I did my bit by adding to the coffers of some worthwhile charities.

Why didn't anyone else? I would have thought an offer like this would not have been passed up by the community at large and at LEAST 5000 units would have been sold. I thought it would smash that target easily. But it didn't and hasn't.

Maybe there's some factor I'm not considering, maybe it's not as great a deal as I thought it was to others, but what I would like is an explanation from you adventure game fans out there. Why didn't you want to buy this? It was advertised in a news article right here on the Escapist to boot.

Right now, I'm dissapointed in all you chaps and chapettes and I want answers!

/fingerwaggle

http://www.telltalegames.com/adventurebundle
By a simple click or copy and paste you can ammend these mistakes you've made and placate my waggling finger. Also, I'm pretty sure there isn't much time left on the deal so if you want it grab it now!!!

sad truth: classic adventure gaming is dead. there are a few factors
wonkey logic required
lack of instant gratification
requires more brainproscess than point the end that goes bang towards the bad guy and pull the trigger
people are lazy
and finally they have gained a bad reputation...
sad i know but it is what it is. theres simply no seeable money in it, because very few people like adventure games more than say a multiplayer killfest like mw2, or halo 3.

 

[jaeger138]

I play RPGs, shooters, platformers, puzzles, racers... The list goes on, I'm quite an eclectic gamer. I was never really a die-hard fan of a specific genre, including adventures.

But it still saddens me to see this happen to a genre that I grew up with. I bring up Professor Layton once more. With it's third installment coming in a few days it's proven that adventure puzzles still have their place in this world. I'll agree that adventures of old have a problem with fuzzy logic making them a little inaccessible to new players but i feel Layton and Monkey Island have proven these games can be brought into the new age with more humour and narrative and less pixel hunting. Puzzle Agent is a game in the Adventure Bundle that uses the Layton formula well.

I personally feel there's a renaissance occurring and people will be more able to pick up these games and really get to love them. I say give hope a chance and see the value of 11 games (if all the King's Quest titles are included) for $2 each.