|
Am I the only person who played and beat Freddy Pharkas Frontier Pharmacist which was an Al Lowe game from Sierra
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2013 17:16
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 03:31 |
|
|
Awesome Welles posted:
Presto pretty much exists only as a business entity at this point. They don't have an office and their only "employee" is their CEO who is working on other businesses. They do retain source code and other assets in storage and IP rights to their original stuff like Journeyman, which is how 2 and 3 ended up on GOG. Honestly because they chose to close on their own terms rather than be bought out by some conglomerate, the legal status of their library is a lot simpler and straightforward than others from that era. They provided the source code for Pegasus Prime (the JMP1 remake) to some ScummVM developers, including the unreleased PSX version and a DVD version that had higher resolution FMV. This is what they're trying to incorporate into the rerelease now. Jimbo Jaggins posted:ScummVM should probably be mentioned in the OP really. I might consider this but I'm really trying to focus the OP on games and where to find them rather than tools for the games. If there's a lot of interest in this however I'll throw something together. macnbc fucked around with this message at 17:23 on Oct 4, 2013 |
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2013 17:19
|
|
Oh my god I had no idea this was a thing that was actually happening. Who or what is still left over from Presto Studios, anyway? I guess they still have the source code and rights to everything or did that have to get ironed out?
|
Ugly In The Morning posted:You aren't the only one. I used to love that game and the sequel when they both came out. I'm reluctant to go back, though, I get the feeling that they've aged incredibly poorly. Or it'll be a victim to my higher standards now that I'm not in elementary school. I got the first one free with an IBM PC I got some time in the mid 90s. If you take the rail shooter parts out the game is barely an hour long. The shooting parts are all smoke and mirrors as well. You've got a shields/damage bar but you don't actually take damage there are just certain enemies you definitely have to shoot otherwise its instant game over: full shields and you miss a single tiny helicopter that shoots at you for about 2 seconds and couldn't possibly do enough damage and its instant game over. Like, there could be 5 enemies on the other side of the screen shooting at you for far longer but you don't even have to shoot them to proceeed. Hakkesshu posted:Well, in the spirit of the month, how about we recommend some horror adventure games? I really enjoyed The Cat Lady but I'd be lying if I didn't say that some parts are really really cringeworthy. There's just certain parts of the game where bad dialog and bad voice acting combine into something thats embarassing. Overall though its really good. quote:I might consider this but I'm really trying to focus the OP on games and where to find them rather than tools for the games. If there's a lot of interest in this however I'll throw something together. I was thinking more just a link and a tiny icon like the steam/GOG ones for people who already have a copy of a supported game but might have trouble getting it to run on a modern PC, it just came to mind when I was talking about Gobliiins. Jimbo Jaggins fucked around with this message at 17:35 on Oct 4, 2013 |
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2013 17:26
|
|
|
macnbc posted:I might consider this but I'm really trying to focus the OP on games and where to find them rather than tools for the games. If there's a lot of interest in this however I'll throw something together. You can't even play most of the good adventure games without SCUMMVM. Leaving it out of the OP means newbies to the thread won't even know that the old stuff is still playable.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2013 17:50
|
|
|
Waldorf Sixpence posted:You can't even play most of the good adventure games without SCUMMVM. Leaving it out of the OP means newbies to the thread won't even know that the old stuff is still playable. True if you have the original versions, but wouldn't most newbies be getting the games from GOG or Steam, where that legwork ought to be done already? Edit: For the sake of argument I've gone ahead and added a small bit about ScummVM and DOSBox to the OP. I'll make a pretty graphic for it later. Beneath A Steel Sky also added to game list. macnbc fucked around with this message at 19:13 on Oct 4, 2013 |
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2013 18:32
|
|
|
Stare-Out posted:I wonder if EMI was originally a PS2 exclusive or if it was used as the main design platform. That could've had a hand in why EMI went 3D, to "show off" what a new generation of consoles can do. Somehow that then just caught on and they've been 3D ever since, for better or (more often) worse. Thing is, there wasn't really an "ever since". Escape was the last MI title until Tales, and there had been a long history of... shall we say disappointment by that point(not strictly due to the 3d, but it was a factor). Trying to continue that route instead of, lets say Curse (the strongest game, visually at least, in the series) seemed like an odd decision.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2013 18:37
|
|
|
Talking about ScummVM reminded me of Beneath a Steel Sky which I really liked and that is free to download on the ScummVM site.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2013 18:50
|
|
|
hangedman1984 posted:Thing is, there wasn't really an "ever since". Escape was the last MI title until Tales, and there had been a long history of... shall we say disappointment by that point(not strictly due to the 3d, but it was a factor). Trying to continue that route instead of, lets say Curse (the strongest game, visually at least, in the series) seemed like an odd decision. Curse added a lot of things that worked wonderfully too; the interaction system was simple and concise, the inventory was very straightforward and the point & click system was really the only way one would imagine controlling Guybrush. Huge step forward from having to use shortcut keys or clicking Command then Whatever you wanted to interact with. And they couldn't do that at all when they went 3D. I'd love to see them go back to 2D with whatever the next game will be, if any.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2013 19:04
|
|
|
Anybody else here use the Universal Hint System back in the day? I found it back in the early 90s as a shareware DOS program, before I even knew about Adventure Games. I think I was looking for strategies for Dune 2, the game that proved to me I was terrible at strategy games and should never play them. Then I bought Full Throttle and got stuck as hell. My parents actually let me call the 1-900-STAR-WARS hint line once (at that god drat water tower) but I got stuck again later and found the Windows Version online. It was kind of perfect for me. I'm real quick to get frustrated when I get stuck on a puzzle and having subtle hints to point me in the right direction without having the whole puzzle spoiled was pretty much perfect for me. New game additions started slowing to a crawl in the late 2000s, to the point now that only a few games have been added since 2011, and most of them seem to be done by an obsessive Nancy Drew fan. It's really too bad, I could definitely use subtle hints for the Wadjet Eye games or the Deponia games instead of having to read a full walkthrough. Man, talk about a first world problem....
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2013 19:50
|
|
|
Whew. OP is now updated with working GOG and Steam links for all available product pages. In cases where an entire series is mentioned, I've linked to GOG playlists or Steam bundle packs listing all of them.choobs posted:Anybody else here use the Universal Hint System back in the day? I found it back in the early 90s as a shareware DOS program, before I even knew about Adventure Games. I think I was looking for strategies for Dune 2, the game that proved to me I was terrible at strategy games and should never play them. UHS is still around and is still pretty great when you just need a push. And man, hint lines. The only time I ever used one was on Buried In Time, when I called Presto for help with a puzzle near the end. They were pretty cool about it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2013 20:14
|
|
|
Since we are talking old school adventure games, I feel that AGD Interactive needs mentioning, as they have made some drat good remakes of King's Quest 1-3 and Quest for Glory 2. The remakes features a point-and-click interface and updated graphics in a pretty and well-crafted early/mid-90s style, and in the case of the King's Quest remakes, even voice acting (although the quality of the voices is quite uneven and the acting laughably cheesy in places (so not that different from Sierra really), it also features Sierra veteran-designer Josh Mandel reprising his role as King Graham). And did I mention they can be downloaded completely for completely free (and legally, since they were made under license) at AGDI's home page? The team behind AGD are also trying to branch out into the commercial adventure game scene under the label Himalaya Studios, having released the above average-ish Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine, which is slated to be released in an Enhanced Edition, as well as working on the Kickstarted-funded Mage's Initiation, a Quest-for-Glory-like Adventure RPG.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2013 20:21
|
|
|
macnbc posted:The only time I ever used one was on Buried In Time, when I called Presto for help with a puzzle near the end. They were pretty cool about it. Presto was legit loving cool back in the day. I remember when I emailed their support about my copy of Buried in Time that came in the Trilogy box - I'm trying to remember what it was exactly, but I think for some copies the second CD for BiT was just a copy of the first CD or some weird problem. They not only sent me an email back thanking me for playing it, but also sent me a replacement CD and a bunch of stickers and other things at no extra charge. I think I was maybe 11 at the time so that was pretty awesome. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2013 21:27
|
|
|
Awesome Welles posted:Presto was legit loving cool back in the day. I remember when I emailed their support about my copy of Buried in Time that came in the Trilogy box - I'm trying to remember what it was exactly, but I think for some copies the second CD for BiT was just a copy of the first CD or some weird problem. Ha! Had the exact same thing happen to me. Still have the replacement disc and stickers on my shelf. I was sent two Deep Time Unit stickers.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2013 21:33
|
|
|
macnbc posted:True if you have the original versions, but wouldn't most newbies be getting the games from GOG or Steam, where that legwork ought to be done already? When games are available on GOG or Steam that's great but a number of them aren't available  SCUMMVM is mandatory just for Sam & Max, DOTT and Toonstruck. gently caress DOSBox though, you're right. No game is worth that hassle.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2013 22:36
|
|
|
I think I might be the only person who's ever played Eternam, or am I? This look familiar to anyone else?  I never beat it, and I still have my copy somewhere, box and everything. It was genuinely funny, had a weird mix of sci-fi and medieval theming going on (you're on a virtual vacation, sort of), and had first-person exploration parts thrown about. Also, the full screen animation looked very Don Bluth-ish, though primitive.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2013 22:47
|
|
|
As much as EMI was a terrible game, I don't think that's a consequence of the 3D. Grim Fandango was a 3D adventure game, and one of the strongest I've played. What killed EMI was the endless "Hey, remember how funny you found this two games ago?" Also, gently caress Monkey Kombat.
|
|
#
?
Oct 4, 2013 23:37
|
|
|
Lifetime77 posted:Am I the only person who played and beat Freddy Pharkas Frontier Pharmacist which was an Al Lowe game from Sierra That game really deserves much more love than it gets. Al Lowe is known for Leisure Suit Larry but Freddy Pharkas was easily his funniest game. It's a shame that it's really hard to find these days. It also had one of the best copy protections of any adventure game. The Sierra list is really incomplete without it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2013 03:52
|
|
|
Boardroom Jimmy posted:That game really deserves much more love than it gets. Al Lowe is known for Leisure Suit Larry but Freddy Pharkas was easily his funniest game. It's a shame that it's really hard to find these days. It also had one of the best copy protections of any adventure game. The Sierra list is really incomplete without it. Added to OP. Also after giving it a bit of thought I removed Phantasmagoria from the list. I mean, other than it having a fuckton of discs, is it really remembered fondly for anything? Deep down I really don't think it was a terribly good game. Anyone can feel free to prove me wrong though. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2013 03:58
|
|
|
No, Phantasmagoria is terrible. I mean it's still funny in a bad FMV kind of way, but that's it. The second game is even more insane. The only unironically good FMV adventure games are the Tex Murphys and Gabriel Knight 2, pretty much.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2013 04:05
|
|
|
Return to Zork's FMV was pretty entertaining. Had a sillier vibe, though.
|
|
#
?
Oct 5, 2013 07:09
|
|
|
Just finished The Book of Unwritten Tales. Pretty great game. Not particularly challenging put the jokes are spot on most of the time. Quite a lot of 4th wall-breakage and jokes about modern occurences, which I usually don't like, but here they worked great. It is probably the longest adventure game I've played, too. Recommended!
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2013 17:52
|
|
|
I've been plugging my way through Hideo Kojima's Snatcher lately. Pretty awesome to look at visually, plus they intercut recorded dialogue in with the text based stuff. Plus it's a Kojima game so the story and gameplay are pretty interesting so far. It's pretty awesome as far as screen caps go:
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2013 22:44
|
|
|
Another article discussing Rand Miller and Cyan teasing a new non-Myst Kickstarter. I'm really psyched to see Cyan ready to make another go at it, but I do wish they'd quit teasing the drat thing and just put the Kickstarter up when they've got something substantial to talk about. Edit: Captain Scandinaiva posted:Just finished The Book of Unwritten Tales. Pretty great game. Not particularly challenging put the jokes are spot on most of the time. Quite a lot of 4th wall-breakage and jokes about modern occurences, which I usually don't like, but here they worked great. It is probably the longest adventure game I've played, too. Recommended! Added to OP! Also looking for any console or mobile-based suggestions people might have. That section's relatively thin at the moment. macnbc fucked around with this message at 16:32 on Oct 7, 2013 |
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2013 16:27
|
|
|
macnbc posted:Added to OP! Also looking for any console or mobile-based suggestions people might have. That section's relatively thin at the moment. Year Walk (iOS). Also grab its companion app.
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2013 17:54
|
|
|
Is the Leisure Suit Larry remake any good (worth 11$)?
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2013 19:10
|
|
|
Xander77 posted:Is the Leisure Suit Larry remake any good (worth 11$)? It's a remake of the original, with voice acting and more jokes in the same vein as the existing ones, plus some rejiggered puzzles. If you liked the original and want to play it again, sure. If you expect some sort of masterpiece, nope.
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2013 20:24
|
|
|
I would love Police and/or Space Quest on Android, holy poo poo. I want to walk into the wrong bathroom while I'm playing the game in the bathroom.
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2013 20:35
|
|
|
Rupert Buttermilk posted:I would love Police and/or Space Quest on Android, holy poo poo. ScummVM has an Android version, and those games are compatible with ScummVM. So go nuts.
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2013 21:09
|
|
|
Finished Cognition. I loved how with each episode they were adding new gameplay elements while still keeping old tricks / abilities useful. Puzzles were pretty good especially in the second half of the series. The story mixes paranormal investigation, psychological thriller / drama and over-the-top comic-book-style violence and gore (which gets unintentionally hilarious at one point in the fourth episode). Cognition also tends to employ a lot of comic book / video game / etc. tropes (including pretty much every grimdark one in the book except for  , so be warned) and flip the genders in them.All in all, it's extremely flawed, but entertaining series and I can't wait to see more from Phoenix Online. rvm fucked around with this message at 07:17 on Oct 8, 2013 |
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2013 21:15
|
|
|
Xander77 posted:Is the Leisure Suit Larry remake any good (worth 11$)?
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2013 21:17
|
|
|
I hate to admit it, but as much as I like the setting, characters, writing, and voice acting in many adventure games, I just can't stand actually playing them. If you haven't already, I'd highly recommend watching the Grim Fandango Let's Play, both because the game's quite difficult to get running on modern computers, but mostly because it lets you enjoy all the story and content of the game without having to put up with the tedious inventory system, puzzle solving, or backtracking. There's also no commentary or subtitles from the person who edited it together, so it really is like watching a movie of the game. I've heard that the Blade Runner LP is very good as well, and I should really get around to reading it considering how much I enjoyed the movie, as well as the book it's based on. Retsupurae also commented over Longplays for Darkseed I & II, which were very enjoyable. The first game was a brilliant video, because they were very funny, and the game was played as quickly as possible. However, in the second game, the player didn't really know what to do a lot of the time, talked to the same people over and over again, and didn't know how to use the map to move around and just walked everywhere, so it went on a lot longer than it should. However, it did feel very in-character for the massively dorky version of Mike Dawson that the sequel portrayed him as.
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2013 22:40
|
|
|
That loving Sned posted:I hate to admit it, but as much as I like the setting, characters, writing, and voice acting in many adventure games, I just can't stand actually playing them. Actually, some of the folks involved in the ScummVM released ResidualVM. It's to the point now that the game is fully playable with only minor graphical issues. Supposedly anyway, I haven't had a chance to play it yet. Would be interested in a trip report for anyone who has played it.
|
|
#
?
Oct 7, 2013 23:37
|
|
|
choobs posted:Actually, some of the folks involved in the ScummVM released ResidualVM. It's to the point now that the game is fully playable with only minor graphical issues. Supposedly anyway, I haven't had a chance to play it yet. Would be interested in a trip report for anyone who has played it. A friend of mine streamed the entire game very shortly after Grim was declared beatable in Residual and that's exactly what we saw. Worked great, some weird color problems near the end of the game that sorted themselves out. That was over 2 years ago and before their "stable" release. Go play Grim Fandango!
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2013 00:23
|
|
|
Hakkesshu posted:No, Phantasmagoria is terrible. I mean it's still funny in a bad FMV kind of way, but that's it. The second game is even more insane. The second Phantasmagoria is great fun and holds up a lot better. Probably because it's basically just clicking things and watching a B movie. The first is a lovely adventure game in a hideous style, and the second is barely a game. It's telling the second becomes terrible after it actually tries to become an adventure game, an adventure game where all the objects are weird alien poo poo. People make fun of adventure games for being about rubbing things on other things, but in Phantasmagoria 2 that's entirely the case: since you don't know what any of that poo poo is, you just have to rub various things on other things and hope it works. No game I know of shits the bed at the end harder than Phantasmagoria 2. Y'know, every time someone brings up FMV games I'm like 'oh yeah, that happened.' It's just this weird, isolated period in gaming no one really thinks about anymore. The whole thing has basically been lost down the memory hole, and probably for the best. Stare-Out posted:I'm not too familiar with the games but pretty much every review I've read of that one completely slammed it. Eurogamer gave it like 1/10 I think. 2/10. It mostly attacked it for having outdated design philosophies and for being politically incorrect though, both things I'd assume anyone interested in a Larry remake would expect. It was written by someone fundamentally opposed to Larry being remade at all, which is fair enough but doesn't tell anyone who actually is interested in it very much. That said, no one else I'm aware of has anything nice to say either. I wouldn't be surprised that, no matter how polished it is, playing Larry nowadays is just going to make you wonder 'how did I put up with all that poo poo?'
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2013 00:58
|
|
|
Kieselguhr Kid posted:Y'know, every time someone brings up FMV games I'm like 'oh yeah, that happened.' It's just this weird, isolated period in gaming no one really thinks about anymore. The whole thing has basically been lost down the memory hole, and probably for the best. It may have something to do with just how unwieldy those games are. Loading up hundreds of megabytes of awkwardly pieced together video spread over multiple discs makes them much less accessible than both the lightweight 2D games of the previous era and the simple 3D games of the dusk of adventure gaming. It's just way too much hassle to play those monstrosities.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2013 01:09
|
|
|
Since we're talking about FMV games right now; I'm curious if anyone has played Darkstar: The Interactive Movie. Apparently this was made only a couple of years ago and includes a lot of the Mystery Science Theater people but I haven't heard of it until recently. I'm a fan of the show but I have to wonder why they're all in it and if there's a story behind that.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2013 01:44
|
|
|
Well, this came out of nowhere: Jane Jensen just announced that her studio's remaking Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers for iPad, Android, Mac and PC with Activision's help. This is the first image: It'll be out next year for the 20th anniversary. There's an interview here. The Kins fucked around with this message at 17:31 on Oct 8, 2013 |
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2013 17:29
|
|
|
The Kins posted:Well, this came out of nowhere: Jane Jensen just announced that her studio's remaking Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers for iPad, Android, Mac and PC with Activision's help. This is the first image: Man that looks awesome. If it sells well, this could help greenlight a GKIV
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2013 17:38
|
|
|
Did anyone else ever play the Cosmic Spacehead games that Codemasters put out in the early 90s? I played the Genesis version and while the adventure game parts of it weren't bad, it was full of really, really bad platforming.
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2013 17:40
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 03:31 |
|
|
My first reaction is "gently caress yeah", but come to think of it... What has Jane done since the first GK that was any good? (I just played through the second GK, and... eh. The story is ambitious but highly predictable, is suffers from a huge variety of FMV game flaws and the actor direction is just awful. Gabe's actor spends half his scenes chewing on his own face and Grace turns up the "terrible bitch" dial up to eleven at every opportunity)
|
|
#
?
Oct 8, 2013 17:40
|
|