Part of the problem for adventure games

[rugged]

We all hear about the death of the adventure game genre. While it is true the genre will never completely die few people would argue it is a picture of perfect health. We have all heard many arguments as to why they are dying. I will add what I think is one small piece in the puzzle

One thing I have noticed in my browsing of the adventure community is that many of the classic adventure fans don't invest a whole lot of money in purchasing new adventures. Now some may say they don't live up to the classics and that may well be true but each year there are at least a couple of adventure games that receive great reviews and wide spread acclaim. You would think these games would be highly purchased by the staunch adventure fans but I have a sneaking suspicion this isn't the case (for a number of reasons I believe)

I am interested to hear from people. When was the last time you purchased a full price commercial adventure game? How many would you buy a year if there were enough good games?

I am also interested in a couple of projects in particular. Who has purchased A vampyre story and who intends to purchase Grey Matter?

[Klytos]

I bought A Vampyre Story about a month ago, I don't really purchase many games to be honest. I've already got planned purchases for Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 though on their release.

[MusicallyInspired]

I still mean to buy as many adventure games as I can to support the genre. Only good ones, though. I'm not going to buy every Adventure Game Company game that's ever been released. Most of them suck horribly. On my list:

Broken Sword Director's Cut (Wii & NDS)
Syberia (NDS) - Even though I hate the game
A Vampyre Story
Gray Matter
Broken Sword 4 (Still haven't gotten it yet)

[Brainiac]

I have A Vampyre Story. I will purchase Gray Matter the first cahnce I get (Jane Jensen, after all). Depending on how reviews for the French edition go, I'll most likely get Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper (up until now, I've skipped the odd-numbered Frogwares' releases). The adaptation of The ABC Murders is also on my list (despite my general displeasure with the last Poirot game). The Broken Sword Director's Cut is not currently on my list as I haven't become current-gen in my console gaming yet and I'm not going to go for the DS version instead (plus I'd like to know whether or not BS2 will be redone as well first). Checking over the Top Ten Anticpated Titles on Adventure Gamers and Just Adventure, I'm also planning on eventually getting Culpa Innata 2, A Bat's Tale, Three Cards to Midnight, and possibly the once-suspected April Fools' Syberia 3. I also am looking carefully at some of the other titles on those lists (but they're possibilities rather than near-certainties).

[DrJones]

I did not buy A Vampyre's Story due to limited budget and bad reviews from fellow friends who share my taste. I'm not a fan of the Broken Sword games either, because I cannot stand George Stobbard (probably due to the awful job done by the spanish voice actor, who ruined the series for me). I do, however, plan to buy Gobliiins 4 one of these days, and maybe the new Runaway just to support my country's fragile game industry.

I haven't heard about Gray Matter, though.

EDIT: Happy Birthday, Brainiac! and Blackthorne too!

[DrJones]

Woo, 400 posts!

[Brainiac]

...maybe the new Runaway just to support my country's fragile game industry.

I enjoy the Runaway games. I forgot to mention I'll get the trilogy's conclusion as well (though honestly just to deal with the typical non-ending the second game suffered from).

[Angelus3K]

I'm not a fan of the Broken Sword games either, because I cannot stand George Stobbard (probably due to the awful job done by the spanish voice actor, who ruined the series for me).

As the Broken Sword series is one of my favourite games ever I feel I have to speak out lol, I think Rolf Saxon does an excellant job as George Stobbart, I don't understand what you mean about a spanish actor though, Rolf Saxon was born in the US and has lived in the UK since 1980.

[Broomie]

I can only guess he means the Spanish version of the game with Spanish voice acting, therefore Rolf wasn't involved with the voice talent. That would have been why it was ruined for him.

[papste]

I have always been willing to purchase any "GOOD" adventure game that came out. However this doesn't imply that i am willing to accept that every game that is thrown to me is good. I think the trouble with the latest games in general is the lack of creativity and new ideas. Most of the recent adventure games suffer from the "find the right key in order to open the right door" issue. Repetitive puzzles and shallow badly designed characters, non-existent gameplay and uninteresting storyline. Also the gaming industry has been flooded with fps games and mmorpgs that try to suck money from gamers on a monthly basis by offering either some form of combat or quests that get added on the way. This is mainly due to the fact that rpgs and other non-adventure games or shooters can be replayed over and over, each time following a different approach. With adventure games the best you can do in this aspect is include several different paths to follow and probably different endings, however after you have finished it a couple of times then that's it. So my conclusion is that due to the limited re-playability of adventure games, they need to be REALLY good in order to compete with other genres. I'm one of the gamers that believe in quality and not quantity. I really wouldn't mind if a game didn't last long, as long as i enjoyed the ride.

[papste]

Personally i am a big fan of Jane Jensen (i loved the Gabriel Knight series) and i am looking forward for Grey Matter to come out which i am definitely buying. I just hope the game doesn't disappoint me like Three Cards Before Midnight, which was the biggest disappointment that i had from buying a computer game in the last few years.

[seraphimdreamer777]

I'd have to say it is like this maybe. Have they made any really over the top gory adventure Games or any thugrizzle advrizzle type games as in like Grand Theft auto style adventure games where you play as a thug trying to get ahead anyway he can. I'm sorry to say this especially with my favorite series from growing up are dying due to the rise of more colorful games. Most kids these days don't know who Mega Man is and if they are familiar with him it is battle network of which I like RPGs a lot and Mega Man a lot but not the whole combination. Unless they did it Symphony of the night style stick to the original concept and use a level up system.