Some claim that it killed pure adventure games before they started, thus resulting in their early demise, while others maintain that Myst was the perfect opening for the short-lived genre. So I ask you: what did Myst do to the adventure genre?
Poll: Did Myst kickstart or ruin the adventure genre?
- Thread starter lacktheknack
- Start date
I don't really think Myst helped nor hindered the genre. I played it, and loved it, but besides having puzzles which I could not for the life of me figure out quickly (I played when I was like 10) I don't really see anything truly genre-busting in it.
Never mind. I should always look at Google before saying things. Full motion video. Got it.
FMV? I am unfamiliar with this term. Please explain.Altorin said:
Never mind. I should always look at Google before saying things. Full motion video. Got it.
Well since Myst was released in 1993, and I've been playing adventure games since the mid-to-late 80s.. I guess they didn't kickstart the genre! If anything the text adventure games were the start, along with the likes of Sierra with King's Quest (1984).
The failure of adventure games felt like a lack of good puzzle ideas, and the example in the link by Alex_P is a classic example of bizarre puzzles which almost made you think that the developers and publishers wanted you to buy a guide or phone a hint line (at great cost) in order to progress in a game.
Saying that, there are endless freeware and cheap downloadable adventure games available on the internet of variable quality. Some of which can be found here: http://www.reloaded.org/
The failure of adventure games felt like a lack of good puzzle ideas, and the example in the link by Alex_P is a classic example of bizarre puzzles which almost made you think that the developers and publishers wanted you to buy a guide or phone a hint line (at great cost) in order to progress in a game.
Saying that, there are endless freeware and cheap downloadable adventure games available on the internet of variable quality. Some of which can be found here: http://www.reloaded.org/
Myst was truly an inspirational game, if anything it encouraged developers to try and create 'new' games. The thing with Myst was there wasn't really any 'major' storyline, you was dropped in a world, and left to it. It was like marmite, some loved it some hated it. But I do not think it led to the death of the adventure game at all.
This poll is pretty polarised (no pun or alliteration intended). Myst was a great game, for the time, that was somewhat influential and hugely successful - the best-selling PC game of all time until the Sims came along, or something like that. It neither started nor ruined the genre, but not doubt its success had some effect.
That all seems pretty common-sense to me, but not to the poll creator apparently.
That all seems pretty common-sense to me, but not to the poll creator apparently.
Myst was an absolutely shocking series, truly terrible.
It didn't kill the genre despite that though.
It didn't kill the genre despite that though.
Myst was awesome, I still have the original Myst on CD. I also bought it on iPod Touch because I love it that much. I guess you either love adventure games, or you don't. It was a brilliant idea, and it worked.
Personally, I don't think it killed adventure games.
I think
~Frosty.
Personally, I don't think it killed adventure games.
I think
Nowadays, most people won't appreciate adventure games for what they are (granted, most of them are shite, but some are floating gems in the sea of shite; Myst is one of said gems) and will only play games which involve some level of violence.Alex_P said:
~Frosty.
It was a lovely series of games, but I think it's really largely seen as going in parallel with the adventure game genre - first-person slideshow adventures usually follow somewhat different conventions and have different gameplay from the more standard 3rd-person point-and-click ones.
I wouldn't say the adventure game genre is dead per se, although I don't particularly understand the reason why it has taken adventure game developers so long to grasp several key concepts that would make the games a lot more enjoyable:
-Less impossible puzzles
-Non-linear storyline with meaningful decisions
-Multiple, common-sense puzzle solutions
Mind, it would annoy the purists who like hideously complicated and convoluted solutions to everyday difficulties and carry around assorted lengths of wire, fish, duct tape and teddy bears wherever they go with them (that said, having found the original Myst to be laughably easy and having never even blinked an eye at the 'rubber ducky puzzle' of TLJ I probably belong partly to this category).
But in the end, I think adventure games are all about the story and the adventure you experience. They should be narrative-driven experiences with lovely characters, player choice and deep plots. Kind of like if you took Mass Effect, for instance, and stripped out all the silly shooting. Heavy Rain seems to be on the right track, but I don't see why others aren't doing it: after all none of the above requires state-of-the-art 3d graphics.
I wouldn't say the adventure game genre is dead per se, although I don't particularly understand the reason why it has taken adventure game developers so long to grasp several key concepts that would make the games a lot more enjoyable:
-Less impossible puzzles
-Non-linear storyline with meaningful decisions
-Multiple, common-sense puzzle solutions
Mind, it would annoy the purists who like hideously complicated and convoluted solutions to everyday difficulties and carry around assorted lengths of wire, fish, duct tape and teddy bears wherever they go with them (that said, having found the original Myst to be laughably easy and having never even blinked an eye at the 'rubber ducky puzzle' of TLJ I probably belong partly to this category).
But in the end, I think adventure games are all about the story and the adventure you experience. They should be narrative-driven experiences with lovely characters, player choice and deep plots. Kind of like if you took Mass Effect, for instance, and stripped out all the silly shooting. Heavy Rain seems to be on the right track, but I don't see why others aren't doing it: after all none of the above requires state-of-the-art 3d graphics.
Alright, I changed my answer. Shooters may have helped since instead of playing King's Quest on your PC you could now play Doom, thus giving the PC game player a real alternative that did not involve obtuse puzzle solving, but it was the obtuse puzzle solving that killed the genre.Alex_P said:
Or more accurately, the defining obtuse puzzle solving got absorbed by other genres. I was playing Jaws Unleashed, of all things, and while most of it involved wrecking boats and eating people, there were some obtuse puzzles in some of the story missions. An interesting idea for a game where you play a shark, I guess. When it told me the shark has to find an ID card to unlock the gate, I nearly died.
The problem with adventure games was not so much the form as the content. Solving puzzles is not so bad, solving puzzles that were convoluted to the point of requiring telepathy to figure out what to do is not so much fun. In my own 9admittedly limited) personal experience, hitting upon some of these solutions was often a product of total frustration and a wild stab in the dark.
In the original text adventure, Colossal Cave Adventure, there a dragon blocking a path and I tried many times to kill that dragon to get past it with no luck. Every time I typed KILL DRAGON, the program would ask WITH WHAT? YOUR BARE HANDS? I didn't think much of this being a kid and all, but I finally just got pissed and typed YES and it came back with CONGRATULATION! YOU'VE JUST KILLED A DRAGON WITH YOUR BARE HANDS! Words cannot express the emotions coursing through my body at that moment. On the one hand, that was pretty funny. On the other, that was a lot of frustration to endure to get that little joke.
I can't help but wonder how many adventure games had puzzles like this whether to consciously hope to copy this effect or subconsciously because the authors were just terrible at making reasonable puzzles.
The golden age of adventure gaming started and ended with Lucasarts.
Myst never comes into the picture. It's a puzzle game with FMVs.
monkey island, dott, sam & max. Those were the shit.
Clever puzzles that weren't frustrating. Good stories and dialogues.
These games were short, but entertaining while they lasted.
The problem with adventure games was gamers prefered long grind.
Myst never comes into the picture. It's a puzzle game with FMVs.
monkey island, dott, sam & max. Those were the shit.
Clever puzzles that weren't frustrating. Good stories and dialogues.
These games were short, but entertaining while they lasted.
The problem with adventure games was gamers prefered long grind.