The Return of (Old) PC Graphic Adventures [Slashdot]

[DP ServBot]

KingofGnG writes "Though they belong to a genre already considered defunct and inadequate for the mainstream video game market, adventure games have a glorious past, a past that deserves to be remembered, and, of course, replayed. At the center of a good part of this effort of collective memory, there is ScummVM, the virtual machine which acts like an interface between the feelings and the puzzles from the good old times and the modern operating systems. As already highlighted before, the ScummVM target has immensely grown during time, going from the simple support of the 'classic' adventure games par excellence published by Lucasfilm/Lucasarts, to a range that virtually includes any single puzzle solving game developed from the beginning of times up to the advent of the (Windows) NT platform. The last video game engine added to ScummVM within the past days is Groovie, created by the software house Trilobyte for its first title released in 1993, The 7th Guest."http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=08/12/22/0535242 (http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/22/0535242&from=rss)
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[Trebuken]

I have never been into the genre, but have wanted to give it a shot for awhile. I played King's Quest V for a short amount of time before getting stuck and never went back to it...

Where should a nOOb adventurer begin?

[Jorpho]

Well, the freeware games available via scummVM are as good a start as any: Beneath a Steel Sky and Flight of the Amazon Queen.

After that, I've heard many good things about Yahtzee's recently-created adventure games: 5 Days a Stranger and its sequels. (I don't know why they're saying the genre is dead when there are so many quality freeware offerings to be had!)
http://www.fullyramblomatic.com

And of course if you've got a DS, Hotel Dusk is excellent.

[Gameguy]

I have never been into the genre, but have wanted to give it a shot for awhile. I played King's Quest V for a short amount of time before getting stuck and never went back to it...

Where should a nOOb adventurer begin?
I prefer the LucasArts games compared to Sierra, I personally started with The Secret of Monkey Island. You can start with any of their games though, they're pretty much all good.

If you want to try a game first before buying, check out Maniac Mansion Deluxe, it's freeware. There's also been some remakes of the King's Quest games too, so you could try those out as well(I really don't prefer Sierra games too much, too many ways to die).

Or for the DS you can try Trace Memory, it's good to start out with as it's somewhat a shorter game(still a good length though). I found it hard to get the bad ending, I really had to go out of my way to see it(I got the good ending the first time playing). Hotel Dusk is really good, but it's much more detailed and longer to play, I found it more for experienced players. There's also the Phoenix Wright games, these are more Japanese styled adventure games as they're navigated mostly through menus. They're more story driven and less challenging overall(there's nothing wrong with that at all, I really enjoyed them).

Graphic adventures are my favourite genre, I got into them a few years ago but really love to play them. :-D

[PresidentLeever]

I'm not that into the genre but I know there's been sort of a revival on the portable systems like Ds and iPhone (I think it's called? heh).

[Kitsune Sniper]

Wait.

The 7th Guest is supported on ScummVM now?! Holy shit!

[Jorpho]

Support for Return to Zork (and presumably its sequels) and the Discworld games is also imminent.

[Gameguy]

Wait.

The 7th Guest is supported on ScummVM now?! Holy shit!
I've got the 7th Guest working on Windows XP, there's a site that shows the steps how to do it. There's no need for Dosbox either, download something(either a new EXE or a patch) and turn on compatibility mode from Windows XP. I could try to find the site again if you'd like, I got it working months ago.

I played the 7th Guest for a bit, I personally didn't like it. Maybe I'll try it again though.

[Kitsune Sniper]

I know it works on Windows XP, I got the patch ages ago. (Hell, I have a copy of the apparently super rare Windows version!) The point is, I NEVER thought I'd see The 7th Guest on ScummVM, especially because the engine was only used in one game.

[shoes23]

I'm still a little confused as why everything thinks the PC adventure genre is dying. There are a TON of adventure games being released for the PC (not including all the episodic games like Sam & Max, Grimm Fairy Tales, ect.)

Don't believe me? Click the game browser in Mobygames, and look at all the adventure games released for Windows in '08. The Adventure Company alone must make 20 adventure games per year for windows.

[tcv]

I'm still a little confused as why everything thinks the PC adventure genre is dying. There are a TON of adventure games being released for the PC (not including all the episodic games like Sam & Max, Grimm Fairy Tales, ect.)

Well, Slashdot gives the barest of lip-service to games, really. I wouldn't necessarily take their green-light of this article as proof they know something you don't!

[Kitsune Sniper]

I'm still a little confused as why everything thinks the PC adventure genre is dying. There are a TON of adventure games being released for the PC (not including all the episodic games like Sam & Max, Grimm Fairy Tales, ect.)

Don't believe me? Click the game browser in Mobygames, and look at all the adventure games released for Windows in '08. The Adventure Company alone must make 20 adventure games per year for windows.

A lot of those aren't very good.

[Geddon_jt]

What is really amazing is that Scumm VM is Mac OS X native.
And, the best part is, it allows me to run the *PC* versions of these games on my Mac! Emulation appears flawless so far, and Ive tried Monkey Island 2, Beneath a Steel Sky and Day of the Tentacle CDROM.

Really amazing little piece of software.

[Gameguy]

I'm still a little confused as why everything thinks the PC adventure genre is dying. There are a TON of adventure games being released for the PC (not including all the episodic games like Sam & Max, Grimm Fairy Tales, ect.)

Don't believe me? Click the game browser in Mobygames, and look at all the adventure games released for Windows in '08. The Adventure Company alone must make 20 adventure games per year for windows.
Dying, not dead. Adventure games are nowhere near as popular as they used to be, though they're becoming more popular again in recent years. They're still very popular in Europe, and most of the adventure games released in North America are translated European games. The genre is dying in the North American market, not European.

Plus, The Adventure Company is a publisher, not a developer. They don't make games, they just release them. The games themselves are made by several different developers.

[Poofta!]

the first 3 monkey island games, grim fandango and the first 2 simon the sorcerer games are by far my favorite. but almost all from sierra/lucasarts from that era are pretty good (and a handful from other companies/eras)

[Diatribal Deity]

Huge fan of the above mentioned Sierra/Lucasarts adventure games...but The Longest Journey came out of nowhere some years ago (not the second one) and is highly recommended. Not sure if it will ever be released as freeware, but can be found cheap enough.

[j_factor]

If you're looking for a new adventure game that's actually good, check out Overclocked: A History of Violence. It's one of my favorite games of the year.