Regarding adventure games...

[DonMartin]

Herro.

Recently Ive been playing through every single classic adventure I've been able to get my hands on, thanks to the special edition of Monkey Island that came out a year or two back. Now, Ive been largely focusing on the Lucasarts adventure games, Grim Fandango, Monkey 2, 3 and now playing through 4, Sam and Max hit the road, and Im currently on the lookout for a copy of Full Throttle.

Now, are there any specific games Im missing out on? Im aware of a few more that I intend to go through, for example Beneath a Steel Sky, and those mentioned above are not the only one's Ive played. Im staying away from MYST for now, just because Im a narrow-minded idiot, so dont bother mentioning that one. Ill do it when Im ready.


Specifically, I was wondering about the Sherlock Holmes games.. I realize there's a lot of them, and theyre not all made by the same publisher. Have any of you fellow escapists played any of them, and in that case, would you recommend it? Any particular one I should get?


Lastly, Im trying to introduce my girlfriend to adventure games. She said that she enjoys just watching them, her favorite being Grim Fandango, but that she could never figure out the puzzles, as she thinks theyre too hard (and if you ask me, she's a bit intimidated by most of them and just wont try). My question being if there's a particular "easy", yet good adventure game out there? I can imagine games like that getting negative reviews, but if the low score would be solely for that reason, it'd be perfect.


TLDR:
1. Recommend a good Adventure game other than the one's Ive mentioned.
2. Can you recommend any of the Sherlock Holmes games?
3. An easy, yet good enough adventure game for an inexperienced player?


EDIT: #2 is the most important one now.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

You could try some of the original Alone in the Dark games. Also for your girlfriend i could recommend the Nancy Drew Mystery games.

 

[DonMartin]

Also for your girlfriend i could recommend the Nancy Drew Mystery games.

I showed her the site of those games, and she laughed. So probably she'd like a game that isnt published by a company called "Her Interactive"... Preferably a good game.

 

[veloper]

Day of the tentacle!
Gabriel knight 1

 

[number2301]

Check out 5 Days a Stranger [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_Days_a_Skeptic#5_Days_a_Stranger] and the rest of the series by Yahtzee. They're pretty good old school adventure games, some of them quite innovative or at least interesting. They have a much lesser amount of 'guess what the developer was thinking' puzzles and a decent storyline.

I would have given a direct download link but Firefox is currently reporting fullyramblomatic as an attack site, maybe see if there's a torrent about, they're freeware so nothing to worry about.

EDIT - Check out the wikipedia article, and play them in order of release, not chronological order.

 

[Zanaxal]

The Longest Journey, My bf really enjoyed it. Was rated game of the year when it came out.

Dreamfall: which is like longest journey 2 (plotwise also) with full 3d.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

Also for your girlfriend i could recommend the Nancy Drew Mystery games.

I showed her the site of those games, and she laughed. So probably she'd like a game that isnt published by a company called "Her Interactive"... Preferably a good game.

Fair Enough. But i do have some games..while they're not on CD-ROM (they're a flash made game) I can recommend the Nick Bounty and Brain Hotel games.

 

[thegrimfandango]

The Longest Journey is awesome.
I recommend getting SCUMMvm (free) and checking their catalogue of compatible games - all free classic Graphic Adventures. The Simon the Sorceror games are good fun and not too hard.
Look up Adventure Game Studio online, they host hundreds of reviewed Graphic Adventures people have created.
For any frustrations, I thoroughly recommend UHS.com They have walkthroughs for nearly all adventure games, but they're structured in a way that you can click for progressively more blatant hints, so it doesn't feel like cheating if your brain just needs a wee nudge to think about the puzzles in the right way to solve it.

 

[DonMartin]

Still no one who has any idea about the Sherlock Holmes games?

 

[Zhukov]

+1 to The Longest Journey.

Just played it. Enjoyed it. The main character is awesome.

 

[Veldt Falsetto]

Heavy Rain? It very much is a natural evolution of those kinds of games. I love it anyway, also get the other Sam and Max games, they rock.

Also there are three series on DS that I really adore Ace Attorney, Professor Layton and Hotel Dusk/Last Window. These can be challenging at times but they are really great games...tend to down play the comedy from other games of the same genre but I'd definitely recommend these three game series, even if Layton is more puzzley at times

 

[thenamelessloser]

Gabriel Knight is probably the best one you haven't played and the best Sierra one.

The Laura Bow games were good murder mysteries but had a lot of the annoying Sierra shit that you don't find in most of the Lucas Arts games. (such as not picking up an item 5 hours ago fucks up your game later.)

I'm unsure if any of the Sherlock Homes games were good sad to say.

 

[DonMartin]

Will check out Gabriel Knight. Heard about it and apparently theyre excellent.

My girlfriend is going for the newer Sam & Max games, it seems.

She's enjoying herself.

 

[SonicWaffle]

Still no one who has any idea about the Sherlock Holmes games?

Ignore Sherlock Holmes versus Jack the Ripper, it's a steaming pile of badly-made shit. However, I used to have Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Rose Tattoo, and it really is a great game. You actually need to think about things, instead of just trying random objects on one another.

As for other good games, I'd recommend all three Discworld titles, though for different reasons. The first two have a lot of great comedy in them, but are your standard 'combine everything with everything until something works' adventure games where logic and reasoning take a back seat to wackiness, and often require a walkthrough because the answer to a puzzle is so contrived that you can't work it out on your own. The third title, Discworld Noir, is totally different. Instead of a wacky cartoon adventure about wizards, you're in a 40's-styled noir detective movie with a hard-edged Private Eye solving a complicated murder case, though still set in the swords-and-sorcery world of Discworld. It's a lot better than it sounds, and still retains a lot of the earlier games' comedy, as well as having a great twist in the middle.

While you're playing through the LucasArts back catalogue, check out the Indiana Jones games. They're pretty good fun, especially Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.

 

[Wutaiflea]

I can't recommend any Sherlock Holmes games I'm afraid, as I've never played any.

I do, however, recommend the Legend of Kyrandia series, all of which are bright, colourful and full of cutesy humour. The second game, Hand of Fate, may especially appeal to your girlfriend as it has a female protagonist (the awesome Zanthia).
Some of the puzzles are a little "specific", but I completed them as a little girl, so I wouldn't say they're too tough.
You can get the first two on Scumm.

Little Big Adventure 2 is another game I remember being both great and adorable, but my favourite adventure game of my youth was Blade Runner. Your girlfriend might be intimidated by that one, but if you like your detective stuff and endless replay value, you should definitely check it out.

 

[Casimir_Effect]

I'd also recommend The Longest Journey and Dreamfall. The sequel, Dreamfall, is by far the easier to play as the puzzles pose little to no challenge whereas TLJ is more traditional and therefore has obscure-as-all-hell puzzles. The gameplay of Dreamfall is a bit broken though, but in my opinion the story and characters easily make up for this.

In a similar vein to TLJ is the Syberia games, both of which I own but have played barely any of.

With regards to something for an inexperienced player, try getting a copy of Machinarium http://machinarium.net/demo/. It's short, available on various digital download sites along with the websited linked, easy to get in to and forgiving. Some of the puzzles can be a bit hard, but there is a built-in, multi-tiered hint system to help out if needed.
Other than that I would recommend Dreamfall http://store.steampowered.com/app/6300/ because it's really compelling and rarely difficult. Also, even though it's the sequel to The Longest Journey you won't suffer from not having played the original. Plus, while Dreamfall is £14 on Steam you can buy it with TLJ for £15 which is pretty worthwhile anyway.

No idea about Holmes games I'm afraid.

 

[Thee Prisoner]

Sanitarium is a great game. It's about a man who has amnesia and wakes up in a weird world.
Here's a trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcHtqS7tTU4&feature=related

 

[AldUK]

I've got to echo the sentiments of others here by endorsing The Longest Journey and it's sequel; Dreamfall. I'd never been as moved or gripped by a story before playing these games and I'm eagerly awaiting the continuation of the story. The original is perhaps feeling it's age somewhat, but based on other games you've mentioned I don't think that will be a problem.

Seriously, you cannot go wrong with these games if you enjoy a good story, well told.

Spoiler

Don't get too attached to April Ryan...