Point 'n Click

SckizoBoy

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I've never been one for point-and-click adventures, so now is as good a time as any to delve into the genre, but where to start.

Recommend away for Sckiz's first point-and-click... though at the moment, I'm looking at The Longest Journey, even if I think that might be thinking a bit on the big side...

Squabble over each other's favourite such games as well if you feel so inclined... =_=
 

Llil

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The Secret of Monkey Island is always a good one. It got a remake a few years back, which I haven't played myself, but it looks like a really good version of the game.

I think Monkey Island would a good first point-and-click adventure game for a few reasons. It's a Lucas Arts adventure game, so you can never get permanently stuck by making the game unwinnable. Of course you can still get stuck with a puzzle, but you'll never get to a point where a puzzle is impossible to solve because of something you did or didn't do earlier. Even though I like the old Sierra adventure games, I can see how missing an item and only realising you can't progress hours later can be frustrating. The Secret of Monkey Island avoids that. It's also pretty funny and has a lot of great characters. And it's a classic of the genre.

There's also an indie adventure game that I liked a lot called Gemini Rue. It's a sci-fi mystery/thriller type game, and it's pretty good. It's fairly easy as far as the puzzles go, but that's mostly because the solutions just make sense, unlike some adventure games that have some serious moon logic in the puzzle design.

My favourite advenure games are King's Quest III and VI, and Space Quest V, but those are probably not what I would recommend if you've never played these types of games. I haven't played The Longest Journey, so I can't comment on that.

Oh, and if you have a DS or an iPhone/iPad, check out Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. It's a really good game. It's a bit different from the traditional point-and-clicks, but it still counts. The puzzles are about manipulating objects in a certain sequence to cause chain reactions and chage the events. And it has a great plot twist filled mystery story and some really awesome characters.
 

Total LOLige

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I'm not really into point and click either but The Testament of Sherlock Holmes is really good from what I've played(11 hours thus far), some of the puzzles are quite challenging and you have the option to skip if you really can't be arsed. The story is pretty decent too. Also, if Tropico counts as point n click, I recommend Tropico 3 & 4.
 

Festus Moonbear

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Play Day of the Tentacle, it's got the whole of Maniac Mansion inside it as a mini game. Plus it's awesome. Also Sam and Max Hit the Road and the Monkey Island series. Funny, clever, challenging and easy on the eyes as well.
 

shrekfan246

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TellTale's The Walking Dead!

Sure, it's not "point & click" in the classic sense and quite light on the puzzle side of things, but it's definitely an adventure game in the same vein as the old LucasArts or Sierra ones from the 90's. Much less sadistic though; You can actually finish it your first time through without the internet or some other form of hint book. Course, it's a lot heavier on the feels as well, whereas the LucasArts and Sierra games were largely comedies of some sort.

...

Though you might have already played it, which I suppose would defeat my entire post.

I'm not all that big on P&C adventures either. The logic puzzles rarely come across as logical to me, which infuriates me.

If you've got an hour, here's a great example of what I mean by that:

That game got review scores of 80% and higher when it was released back in the early 90's.

[sub][sub]Yes, I know it's a bit of cherry picking, but even Space Quest IV had a bunch of "WTF" moments in it.[/sub][/sub]
 

Llil

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shrekfan246 said:
TellTale's The Walking Dead!

Sure, it's not "point & click" in the classic sense and quite light on the puzzle side of things, but it's definitely an adventure game in the same vein as the old LucasArts or Sierra ones from the 90's. Much less sadistic though; You can actually finish it your first time through without the internet or some other form of hint book. Course, it's a lot heavier on the feels as well, whereas the LucasArts and Sierra games were largely comedies of some sort.
I think it has more in common with visual novels than it does with adventure games. Visual novels can still be good, though, and The Walking Dead is definitely worth playing. It also gives a convincing illusion of having meaningful choices in the story. It was pretty impressive how well they did that.

(And I wouldn't consider the LucasArts games sadistic. Sierra games, yes, especially the earlier ones, but not LucasArts. But I kind of like the Sierra games for that, except King's Quest V. That game has just too much bullshit.)
 

porous_shield

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Like others have said, the Monkey Island games would be a good start. They're funny, well written, and aren't sadistic like the Sierra games are (Space Quest, King's Quest, etc...). Some of the puzzles can be pretty difficult though, or at least I found them difficult twenty years ago when I played them.

The Longest Journey is a great game though the ending leaves a little to be desired.

Syberia 1 and 2: very interesting games and good looking too. I'm looking forward to playing them again when I have them time since I really love the environments you traverse in it. Most of the puzzles in the game are pretty easy other than a couple that are a little obscure. The game starts you out as a lawyer going to settle a property sale but don't let that fool you the game is anything but boring.

Gray Matter: Gorgeous game and written by Jane Jensen who was involved in the Gabriel Knight series which is well regarded. The game starts you as a magician (stage magician rather than actual magic) in Oxford trying to find an exclusive magician's club and you get involved in a weird science experiment with an eccentric doctor.

Circle of Blood/Broken Sword: An American tourist in Paris who gets mixed up in some bad business after a bombing. Hand painted game so it's very good looking though it might look a little rough around the edges nowadays. Great story and the puzzles are good for a 90s game other than a few that are less than obvious.

Grim Fandango: Not a point and click in the traditional sense but very much an adventure game. The world is influenced by the Land of the Dead and you play Manny Calavera who is a travel agent who sells travel packages to the dead and things get out of control from there. It's funny well written and othe characters are great. My favourite adventure game in fact.

I use a site called the Universal Hint System when I'm stuck in adventure games rather than walkthroughs because walkthrough tend to ruin the whole puzzle whereas with that site you can geta bunch of hints and finally the whole solution if you're still stuck.
 

Signa

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As the first response suggested, the first Monkey Island game is a must.

But if you want to see what the genre can really offer, The Longest Journey is a must. I balked at TLJ for over a decade, because to me, an adventure game had to be amusing in some comical respect to be worth the long hours of rubbing two things together, looking for a response, but TLJ proved me wrong with that.
 

shrekfan246

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Llil said:
shrekfan246 said:
TellTale's The Walking Dead!

Sure, it's not "point & click" in the classic sense and quite light on the puzzle side of things, but it's definitely an adventure game in the same vein as the old LucasArts or Sierra ones from the 90's. Much less sadistic though; You can actually finish it your first time through without the internet or some other form of hint book. Course, it's a lot heavier on the feels as well, whereas the LucasArts and Sierra games were largely comedies of some sort.
I think it has more in common with visual novels than it does with adventure games. Visual novels can still be good, though, and The Walking Dead is definitely worth playing. It also gives a convincing illusion of having meaningful choices in the story. It was pretty impressive how well they did that.
I see your point, but if we're going to go down that route I'd really say that most adventure games are closely analogous to visual novels, especially with the recent cases of VNs like Zero Escape or BlazBlue that feature actual gameplay in the traditional sense of the word. The Walking Dead is certainly closer than something like Sam & Max or Day of the Tentacle, but they all share a very similar foundation.

(And I wouldn't concider the LucasArts games sadistic. Sierra games, yes, especially the earlier ones, but not LucasArts. But I kind of like the Sierra games for that, except King's Quest V. That game has just too much bullshit.)
Yeah, fair enough, I suppose it's a bit unfair to group LucasArts in there, since post-Loom they drastically reduced or flat-out removed the tedious BS inherent in a lot of older adventure games. EDIT: I grouped them together mostly because they and Sierra made the most prominent adventure games through the 90's.
 

Echopunk

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I always enjoyed the Hero's Quest games. The first one, Hero's Quest:So You Want to Be a Hero, was a good way for me to ease into the genre. It is point and click at its core, but it also includes rpg staples like classes and skills to learn. You take a fighter, mage, thief or paladin (new game+, basically) through a parody landscape on a quest to become the hero of Spielburg. It is also a game where your classes matter. A fighter might just break something to get through where the thief picks locks and sneaks, or the mage just levitates or uses magic. You even have to train in your respective guilds to improve skills or gain access to new tools/spells. Just watch out for the Night Gaunt.

My favorite of the series was the fourth one, Shadows of Darkness, which happens to be one of my favorite games of all time. It was even narrated by John Rhys Davies!


Once you've gone through all the requisite classics, if you get an insatiable hunger for the point and click genre, check out http://wadjeteyegames.com/

The Blackwell series, The Shiva, Resonance, and Gemini Rue are all excellent. There aren't many of the old school "use a fish to re-charge a magic wand/throw rocks at the ostrich house" shenanigans on display. They tend to make a lot more sense, which could be construed as being easier. The difficulty in their games stems from figuring out how to do what you need to in order to solve a puzzle as opposed to the oldschool "what the hell am I supposed to do?" followed up by "Why the hell did that work?"

They also tend to come with a commentary mode that gives a good look behind the scenes. The developers give you a lot of info on how they came up with parts of the game, and even how the game evolved as it was going along. If you are interested in not just playing but also designing games, the commentary sections are worth the price of the games by themselves.

Haven't tried their newest, Primordia, yet, but it looks good.
 

Llil

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shrekfan246 said:
Llil said:
shrekfan246 said:
TellTale's The Walking Dead!

Sure, it's not "point & click" in the classic sense and quite light on the puzzle side of things, but it's definitely an adventure game in the same vein as the old LucasArts or Sierra ones from the 90's. Much less sadistic though; You can actually finish it your first time through without the internet or some other form of hint book. Course, it's a lot heavier on the feels as well, whereas the LucasArts and Sierra games were largely comedies of some sort.
I think it has more in common with visual novels than it does with adventure games. Visual novels can still be good, though, and The Walking Dead is definitely worth playing. It also gives a convincing illusion of having meaningful choices in the story. It was pretty impressive how well they did that.
I see your point, but if we're going to go down that route I'd really say that most adventure games are closely analogous to visual novels, especially with the recent cases of VNs like Zero Escape or BlazBlue that feature actual gameplay in the traditional sense of the word. The Walking Dead is certainly closer than something like Sam & Max or Day of the Tentacle, but they all share a very similar foundation.
Yeah, I guess the distinction is pretty arbitrary. To me The Walking Dead just felt less like I was playing a game and more like experiencing a story. Kind of like a watching movie, except that I was much more invested in it because I had control over what was happening.
 

Aphantas

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If you are looking for recently made point and clicks, I would suggest taking a look at Telltale's Catalog in general. Walking Dead was a phenomenal game, but I have found their adventure games to pretty good also. I can't vouch for Jurassic Park though since I have not tried it. Unfortunately their Monkey Island games are not quite as good as the original though.
also take a look at Wadjet's Games Primordia and Gemini Rue

If you are wanting to try older point and clicks I recommend Quest For Glory 4. Despite it being a bit buggy it is unique, has a great setting, a pretty good story and some really well done music. I liken it to an attempt to make Skyrim as a point and click adventure game. [EDIT] forgot to mention to find the CD version of this game if are going to play it, as the other versions don't have voice-acting.

But if you don't want to shell out any cash take a look at "The White Chamber" which is somewhat scary for the genre, and the Chzo Mythos.
 

KOMega

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monkey island is pretty good.
Always a good start and still holds up as a funny game.

I've most recently been playing Deponia, since there was a sale on gog a bit of a ways back.
 

Mr.Savage

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Ahh...The Point 'n' Clicker Adventure. My bread and butter when growing up.

For someone new to the Genre, I'll go with what Llil said, and recommend Gemini Rue. For me, the story, atmosphere, and soundtrack were incredibly immersive. And since the puzzles were completely logical, it keeps a nice fast pace going. So if you like Cyberpunk stuff such as Bladerunner, I think you'd like Gemini Rue.


An incredibly unique one would have to be Full Throttle, by LucasArts. I've never seen anything like it before, or since.
It's not too hard, has some fantastic animation, a cool story, and great dialog. Basically you play as the leader of a biker gang clinging to the old ways in a somewhat futuristic earth. The trailer really does it justice...



Once you have a bit of experience under your belt, you might want to consider playing the holy grail of Adventure games: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. I played this a lot in my childhood, and I loved it. But I recently went back to replay it just a few months ago to see how it holds up today, and I was really quite amazed...I actually enjoyed even more than when I was a kid. And not like "Oh man, that's a nice hit of nostalgia", but more "Holy Fuzzsticks, this is better than the movies!". The setting, the plot, the places you go...It all culminates into a thrilling globetrotting adventure, worthy of a book or movie!

It's also very replayable. As there are 3 ways to solve everything. So all in all, highly recommend it!


Honorable mentions:

Lost Horizon: Globetrotting adventure, much like Indiana Jones, quite excellent.

Primordia: Published by the same people who did Gemini Rue, Wadjeteye (In fact, all of their stuff is good, check it out). Dystopian Future where only robots remain. Very cool artwork and story.

The Dig: LucasArts went all out on this, directed by Steven Speilberg, about 3 people stranded on an alien planet

Sierra games: Basically just take your pick on what interests you, they're all pretty decent. Space Quest and Quest for Glory, in particular. :)

Monkey Island Series: Pretty fun comical adventures, some puzzles can be a bit hard though.

Dreamweb: Dystopian cyberpunk future, very moody atmosphere. Has it's problems, but I loved it.
 

Maximum Bert

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Not a huge fan of the genre but The Longest Journey sucked me in and kept me there until completion truly a great game I then played and finished Syberia collection which was fun.

I have got most of the way through Monkey Island which while good comically tested my patience too much on the puzzles and I left it unfinished same with Discworld which made literally no sense.

I have also tried The day of the tentacle but it didnt grip me enough depite it being pretty funny in places so that went uncompleted.

I did recently play and finish the book of unwritten tales which was actually pretty decent and even had a few lol moments but I feel it overstayed its welcome by a slight margin.

So I guess the top three recommendations would be the Longest Journey is easily the number one and secondly Syberia by some margin then Monkey Island.
 

The Madman

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Sure, go for it. The Longest Journey is easily among my all time favourites and one of the best games I've ever played... no, scratch that, the best 'gaming experience' I've ever played.

I say that because as much as I love the game I'm not going to deny it's among the worst examples of its genre in terms of gameplay. Point & Click are at their best a fun little environmental puzzle you've got to figure out through a mixture of dialogue with characters and careful observation of the level. TLJ unfortunately is an example of what not to do, with illogical puzzles and pixel hunting aplenty.

Brilliant story though, absolutely brilliant.

Here's a decent suggestion for a newish point & click that's friendly to newcomers and also has a good story: Broken Sword: Director's Cut

It's a remake of an old classic point & click that's actually quite well done. Some fans of the original dislike some of the new scenes added to the game but I don't mind them, and the puzzles and gameplay are a fantastic example of what the genre is capable of. It's also got a clever hint mechanic for if you get stuck.

Telltale's Sam & Max games have also been great, only getting better with each season. And if you can find it, the original Sam & Max: Hit the Road is also still a blast to play.
 

Bat Vader

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I recommended Telltale's all three seasons of Telltale's Sam and Max games, and the Tales of Money Island by Telltale.

Non Telltale games I recommend are The Longest Journey 1 Dreamfall: The Longwst Journey, Still Life 1 and 2, and Syberia 1 and 2.

In fact, out of all of all the ones I recommended Syberia and Syberia 2 are the best.
 

Eve Charm

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Hmm if you like puzzle games to 999 and virutes last reward are basically point and click and AWESOME.
 

Specter Von Baren

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Full Throttle was my fantastic introduction to Adventure Games.

Another good one is The Dig but there is 'That One Puzzle' where you have to resemble an alien skeleton...

A great free series is the Chzo Mythos series. Fantastic.

Machinarium is a great one too with great art to go with it.

The Sub-Machine games also probably count I think, they're a lot like Myst.

And another one you could play is PISS. Don't let the name fool you, there's a lot of content in this one with lots of philosophical stuff going on and unique settings and such.