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What was your favorite adventure games? I did like the humor in the
beginning of Space Quest IV on my friends' fancy full tower 386 PC! I
was jealous!
I own another Microprose adventure game that I barely remember called
Rex Nebular And The Cosmic Gender Bender. I bought some weird crap
when I was younger.
On 11/2/2024 7:38 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
On Sat, 02 Nov 2024 09:21:59 -0400, Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com>
wrote:
On Sat, 02 Nov 2024 01:39:57 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
What was your favorite adventure games? I did like the humor in the
beginning of Space Quest IV on my friends' fancy full tower 386 PC! I
was jealous!
Hero's Quest, later renamed to Quest For Glory is my favorite
adventure game of all time. It is also my favorite series. King's
Quest IV, V and VI are also some of my favorites. Maniac Mansion is
the game that got me into the genre so obviously I have a lot of love
for that one.
Ah, favorite adventure games. I can't say I have a favorite but there
are definitely some I hold above the rest.
"Kings Quest VI" was impressive largely for its production values.
It's story and puzzles were pure Sierra tripe, but man that game
looked and sounded great; it was head-n-shoulders above anything else
at the time (especially the CD-ROM 'talkie' version). You really could
believe that one day video-games might surpass Hollywood! Also, it was
one of the first games to offer 'multiple endings', which felt
amazingly forward-thinking.
"Loom" wasn't that great a _game_, but boy did it have atmosphere!
Even moreso the CD-ROM version, which replaced the tinkly MIDI with
real CD-Audio. But even the EGA version (which introduced dithering to
large swathes of the gaming population) was gorgeous; it was amazing
what you could do with just 16 colors.
"Mission Critical" is one of my favorite games, ever. While the
live-action video (mainly used in the intro and closing cinematics)
weren't that all impressive (sorry, Michael Dorn!) the rest of the
game was fantastic, with an excellent story, fantastic MIDI
soundtrack, a fun strategy mini-game and a realistic sci-fi setting.
Even thirty years later, every time I play it I'm surprised at how
well it holds up. Well, with the exception of those live-action bits.
"Zork" (in all its many forms) may not be one of my /favorites/ but it
definitely ranks up there was one of my more memorable adventure
experiences. I can still remember the vivid impression it had on me as
I crept through its dungeons one spring morning so long, long ago.
"Full Throttle" doesn't get a lot of love but I think it's one of
LucasArt's best adventure games. It's got humor, drama, and action;
it's got an terrific voice-acting, great visuals, and an awesome
soundtrack. The puzzles were a bit hit-or-miss but that was always an
issue with LucasArts adventures. The action sequences and the game's
shortness were turn-offs to many too. But the overall package was a
fantastic experience; LucasArts at their very best.
And there are so many more! Adventure games used to be the
bread-n-butter of the PC platform. The genre really allowed the PC to
show-off its impressive RAM, storage and CPU capabilities even as it
hid the fact that it couldn't move sprites very fast. There were a lot
of stinkers in the genre too, but so very many classics.
After Myst (or, more importantly, the flood of Myst-clones that aped
the style but lacked the atmosphere) the adventure game crashed for a
while, but even then there were still a trickle of games coming out.
Some of those were quite good too, but none had the impression on me
that those early DOS-era titles had.
I hated all those games, I did play some Zork, but still hated, and I
never bought it. HGttG was my most hated, also didn't buy. Both were played with friends on their computers. I remember playing on of the KQ games ad SQ games that way too. I hated Colossal Cave Adventure too, but
I'd probably have to put it in my least hated.
Unless you count The Curse of Monkey Island which I actually liked.
On 06/11/2024 03:45, Justisaur wrote:
On 11/2/2024 7:38 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
On Sat, 02 Nov 2024 09:21:59 -0400, Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com>
wrote:
On Sat, 02 Nov 2024 01:39:57 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
What was your favorite adventure games? I did like the humor in the
beginning of Space Quest IV on my friends' fancy full tower 386 PC! I >>>>> was jealous!
Hero's Quest, later renamed to Quest For Glory is my favorite
adventure game of all time. It is also my favorite series. King's
Quest IV, V and VI are also some of my favorites. Maniac Mansion is
the game that got me into the genre so obviously I have a lot of love
for that one.
Ah, favorite adventure games. I can't say I have a favorite but there
are definitely some I hold above the rest.
"Kings Quest VI" was impressive largely for its production values.
It's story and puzzles were pure Sierra tripe, but man that game
looked and sounded great; it was head-n-shoulders above anything else
at the time (especially the CD-ROM 'talkie' version). You really could
believe that one day video-games might surpass Hollywood! Also, it was
one of the first games to offer 'multiple endings', which felt
amazingly forward-thinking.
"Loom" wasn't that great a _game_, but boy did it have atmosphere!
Even moreso the CD-ROM version, which replaced the tinkly MIDI with
real CD-Audio. But even the EGA version (which introduced dithering to
large swathes of the gaming population) was gorgeous; it was amazing
what you could do with just 16 colors.
"Mission Critical" is one of my favorite games, ever. While the
live-action video (mainly used in the intro and closing cinematics)
weren't that all impressive (sorry, Michael Dorn!) the rest of the
game was fantastic, with an excellent story, fantastic MIDI
soundtrack, a fun strategy mini-game and a realistic sci-fi setting.
Even thirty years later, every time I play it I'm surprised at how
well it holds up. Well, with the exception of those live-action bits.
"Zork" (in all its many forms) may not be one of my /favorites/ but it
definitely ranks up there was one of my more memorable adventure
experiences. I can still remember the vivid impression it had on me as
I crept through its dungeons one spring morning so long, long ago.
"Full Throttle" doesn't get a lot of love but I think it's one of
LucasArt's best adventure games. It's got humor, drama, and action;
it's got an terrific voice-acting, great visuals, and an awesome
soundtrack. The puzzles were a bit hit-or-miss but that was always an
issue with LucasArts adventures. The action sequences and the game's
shortness were turn-offs to many too. But the overall package was a
fantastic experience; LucasArts at their very best.
And there are so many more! Adventure games used to be the
bread-n-butter of the PC platform. The genre really allowed the PC to
show-off its impressive RAM, storage and CPU capabilities even as it
hid the fact that it couldn't move sprites very fast. There were a lot
of stinkers in the genre too, but so very many classics.
After Myst (or, more importantly, the flood of Myst-clones that aped
the style but lacked the atmosphere) the adventure game crashed for a
while, but even then there were still a trickle of games coming out.
Some of those were quite good too, but none had the impression on me
that those early DOS-era titles had.
I hated all those games, I did play some Zork, but still hated, and I
never bought it.á HGttG was my most hated, also didn't buy.á Both were
played with friends on their computers.á I remember playing on of the KQ
games ad SQ games that way too. I hated Colossal Cave Adventure too, but
I'd probably have to put it in my least hated.
Unless you count The Curse of Monkey Island which I actually liked.
I have fond memories of the simple text adventures on the Specky 48k
(with even more simple names such as Adventure A with the follow up
being Adventure B) in the early days as that was one of the staples
along with arcade games. It didn't take long for devs. to be more
ambitious and you got titles like Sherlock, Valhalla and even hybrids
such as The Forth Protocol.
The nostalgia is bringing a tear to me eye!
Oh GOG. Must you put your freebies up on a Thursday too? We already
have somebody using that day. Let's space it out in the future, shall
we. How about, you take Tuesdays? That good with you?
The free game in question today is:
* Return of the Phantom
https://www.gog.com/en/game/return_of_the_phantom
A somewhat hum-drum classic point-n-click adventure
game from Microprose first released in 1993. Based on
the "Phantom of the Opera", it has you face off against
the eponymous villain. For its time, the visuals were
quite nice but... well, Microprose adventure games were
never quite up to the level of Sierra or LucasArts. The
puzzles aren't that satisfying and the writing is mediocre.
It's not a bad game, but rarely rises above average.
Honestly, it's mostly a game for classic adventure game
aficionados; if you're not into the genre already, it's
unlikely this one will excite you.
This freebies is only available for three days. Click now or forever
hold your peace. ;-)
* Return of the Phantom
https://www.gog.com/en/game/return_of_the_phantom
A somewhat hum-drum classic point-n-click adventure
game from Microprose first released in 1993. Based on
the "Phantom of the Opera", it has you face off against
the eponymous villain. For its time, the visuals were
quite nice but... well, Microprose adventure games were
never quite up to the level of Sierra or LucasArts. The
puzzles aren't that satisfying and the writing is mediocre.
It's not a bad game, but rarely rises above average.
Honestly, it's mostly a game for classic adventure game
aficionados; if you're not into the genre already, it's
unlikely this one will excite you.
This freebies is only available for three days. Click now or forever
hold your peace. ;-)
On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 10:15:01 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
Oh GOG. Must you put your freebies up on a Thursday too? We already
have somebody using that day. Let's space it out in the future, shall
we. How about, you take Tuesdays? That good with you?
The free game in question today is:
* Return of the Phantom
https://www.gog.com/en/game/return_of_the_phantom
A somewhat hum-drum classic point-n-click adventure
game from Microprose first released in 1993. Based on
the "Phantom of the Opera", it has you face off against
the eponymous villain. For its time, the visuals were
quite nice but... well, Microprose adventure games were
never quite up to the level of Sierra or LucasArts. The
puzzles aren't that satisfying and the writing is mediocre.
It's not a bad game, but rarely rises above average.
Honestly, it's mostly a game for classic adventure game
aficionados; if you're not into the genre already, it's
unlikely this one will excite you.
This freebies is only available for three days. Click now or forever
hold your peace. ;-)
"This game is powered by DosBox"
I would've guessed ScummVM had this by now, but they don't!
On Thu, 31 Oct 2024 10:15:01 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
* Return of the Phantom
https://www.gog.com/en/game/return_of_the_phantom
A somewhat hum-drum classic point-n-click adventure
game from Microprose first released in 1993. Based on
the "Phantom of the Opera", it has you face off against
the eponymous villain. For its time, the visuals were
quite nice but... well, Microprose adventure games were
never quite up to the level of Sierra or LucasArts. The
puzzles aren't that satisfying and the writing is mediocre.
It's not a bad game, but rarely rises above average.
Honestly, it's mostly a game for classic adventure game
aficionados; if you're not into the genre already, it's
unlikely this one will excite you.
This freebies is only available for three days. Click now or forever
hold your peace. ;-)
I own this one. Box, manual and all. Last time I played it was when it
was released and so I barely remember it now.
I do actually wonder why there weren't more of those adventure/rpg >crossovers. The whole genre started as way to emulate DnD and spelunking
on a computer, but they all went into different directions. Very few >adventure games crossed genres like the QfG series did.
On Wed, 6 Nov 2024 10:58:05 +0000, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
I have fond memories of the simple text adventures on the Specky 48k
(with even more simple names such as Adventure A with the follow up
being Adventure B) in the early days as that was one of the staples
along with arcade games. It didn't take long for devs. to be more
ambitious and you got titles like Sherlock, Valhalla and even hybrids
such as The Forth Protocol.
The nostalgia is bringing a tear to me eye!
Even on PC, text adventures lasted surprisingly long. I always thought text-adventures as mainly an 8-bit thing; a genre that had its heyday
in the very early 80s but was quickly supplanted by more graphical
fare. But even into the 90s, there were still commercially-released text-adventure games (albeit enhanced with pictures). Games like
Legend's "Homeworld" and "Spellcasting" series, or smaller titles like "Scapeghost", "Transylvania", "Demoniak" and numerous games from
Magnetic Scrolls (although the last were ports of older games).
The genre of course exists to this day, but it's incredibly niche and
most releases are freeware put out by dedicated modders. There's a
host of great games on IFDB.org for those still inclined towards
interactive fiction.
Amongst all examples of the genre, I probably enjoyed "Portal" the
most (no, not THAT one; the game released in 1987). Although purists
might argue it's not really a text-adventure, since there's no
parser... and really, no game. It's more akin to a 'walking
simulator', except you're browsing through a database trying to piece together the story (there are no real puzzles; the trigger to open new articles is reading older ones). But it was a story told almost
entirely through text, so I think it qualifies. ;-)
I think I played this too, but it was boring because of its adventure
genre ((crosspost/CC)ed). Andrew Webber's Phantom of the Opera was cool >though. :D
Microprose adventure games were always average at best. A major
failing -at least for me- was their uninspired soundtracks; Microprose
games never had great music (at least not when compared to the music
from developers like Sierra, LucasArts or Origin).
But their adventure games were always just a bit off in gameplay. The
pacing wasn't great, the writing was forced, the worldbuilding
incomplete, the puzzles lacking consistency. It always felt (and in
fact was) that the adventure game division was an also-ran at
Microprose; an attempt to expand their horizons in case strategy and >flight-sims didn't pan out.
On Fri, 01 Nov 2024 05:35:13 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
I think I played this too, but it was boring because of its adventure
genre ((crosspost/CC)ed). Andrew Webber's Phantom of the Opera was cool >though. :D
I loved adventure games back in the day but I did find some of them
boring. I don't remember if I found this one boring. I don't even
remember if I finished it. I don't have a hint book for it... so
probably not. :-P