Old school gamer NEEDS HELP

[akatemple]

I am deffinatly a old school gamer, I find it very difficult to get involved with most all of the newer video games.
My first video game I got was Space Quest 3, which is still one of my favorite games. I really love games where you have to really use your brain to solve puzzles and figure stuff out. I will list a few games below that I love and if anyone can think of something similar to these games please help me out.

Zork 1,2,etc.., Return to Zork would be my favorite )
Myst 1,2,etc...
Space Quest 1,2,etc...
Kings Quest 1,2,etc.. except for the last one I believe number 8

[Tacitus]

http://www.gog.com/en/frontpage

You'll find tons there of Adventure (that's the genre you're after, no?) games there. ;)

Since I discovered GoG I've been buying a couple a week, even stuff I already have on disc because it's so handy to have a fully-patched classic game in one handy exec plus loads of freebie extras like soundtracks and wallpapers.

The Broken Sword games are the ones which spring to mind off the top of my head but I'm no expert on new Adventure titles. LA Noire is probably the spiritual successor to the traditional point & click adventure game but I didn't like it.

[KasperKristensen]

What about Chrono Trigger? That game still holds up I think. It disregards all that Japanese crap with random battles and having to buy a tent to save. Ugh.

Dragon Age is very much an old school RPG with a modern cover, I think. Portal 2 is a great puzzle game if you can get by all those nice graphics and everything. ;)

[Tacitus]

They're not the kind of games mentioned in the opening post though. ;)

The puzzle aspect of Portal, maybe, but I'd pick the first one over the second all day long. Without knowing what sort of computer the OP has, it's all a moot point anyway.

[KasperKristensen]

I'm 20 what do you want from me? :p

[Golgot]

Space Quest 1,2,etc...
Kings Quest 1,2,etc.. except for the last one I believe number 8

Erm, Police Quest 1 & 2?

;)

(PS I was weaned onto computer games by the old Hitch Hiker's text adventure, and then Space Quest 2 after that :))

Not sure what's around these days in those styles. I did read that the Discworld point-and-click series was pretty good, back in the day.

[Sedai]

I played through Zork pretty recently - not the most forgiving game!

[TONGO]

Killing that #$@! thief in Zork has to go down as one of the single most rewarding feelings I ever had videogaming.

[linespalsy]

I was never much of a PC gamer, so no idea if these are what you're looking for, but Landstalker and Light Crusader for the Sega Genesis are both (somewhat) Legend of Zelda-esque adventure games. I remember Light Crusader being really tough, but good and Landstalker is possibly my favorite of the genre (maybe even better than the Game Boy Zelda). They're both pretty puzzle-heavy, too.

[Golgot]

Actually you might like Another World. It's very short, and the puzzles normally have to be arcade-ly executed, but it was pretty neat. I know I got it on the cheap for PC a few years back so should still be available.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgkf6wooDmw&start=278

[akatemple]

I was never much of a PC gamer, so no idea if these are what you're looking for, but Landstalker and Light Crusader for the Sega Genesis are both (somewhat) Legend of Zelda-esque adventure games. I remember Light Crusader being really tough, but good and Landstalker is possibly my favorite of the genre (maybe even better than the Game Boy Zelda). They're both pretty puzzle-heavy, too.

Landstalker was such a great game, and one of the hardest and most frustrating games i've played. I've already played all the Zelda games already but thanks for the suggestions.

[akatemple]

What about Chrono Trigger? That game still holds up I think. It disregards all that Japanese crap with random battles and having to buy a tent to save. Ugh.

Dragon Age is very much an old school RPG with a modern cover, I think. Portal 2 is a great puzzle game if you can get by all those nice graphics and everything. ;)

Thanks, i've been wanting to check out Portal 2, it's not exactly the puzzle type game i'm looking for but it does look like a really good all around game.
Plus it got great reviews from everybody.

[Yoda]

There are lots of Myst clones, most of questionable quality. But I have two recommendations that I think "feel" similar, even if they're a bit different:

Syberia
Third-person adventure game with a good story, great music, and a wonderful aesthetic sense. There's a pretty good sequel, too, and rumblings a third game coming soon. Highly recommended. It's not a Myst-style game, exactly, but it has a similar sense of discovery and despite having an inventory it stops well short of the other games where you amass 80 items and put them together in impossible ways. Great voice acting, too. Wait til you meet Momo. :D

Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper
Unbelievable game. I'm not sure if it perfectly follows from the list you've given, but if you play lots of adventure games and largely bemoan how few live up to their promise, this one will win you over. The ways in which you examine the murder scene and piece clues together is very bold, creative, and works more often than not. The historical aspect gives it a real boost, too. You'll have some of the annoying "do a favor for someone so they'll do a favor for someone so they'll do a favor for someone" chains here and there, but it's not too bad, and the game is mildly self-aware and even makes a crack about this trope.

It also does an unbelievable job on a storytelling level; it advances a legitimate theory and combines real life history and Holmes' fictional history in a really elegant way.

[Austruck]

Being a Myst fan from the early days, I totally agree with Yoda's two choices above.

If you're okay with some "horror" elements in your adventure games, there are a ton of 'em out there now. If you want a list, just ask. I currently own over 100 PC adventure games of various types -- some good, some horrible.

[Tacitus]

There are lots of Myst clones, most of questionable quality. But I have two recommendations that I think "feel" similar, even if they're a bit different:

Syberia
Third-person adventure game with a good story, great music, and a wonderful aesthetic sense. There's a pretty good sequel, too, and rumblings a third game coming soon. Highly recommended. It's not a Myst-style game, exactly, but it has a similar sense of discovery and despite having an inventory it stops well short of the other games where you amass 80 items and put them together in impossible ways. Great voice acting, too. Wait til you meet Momo. :D




That was the most fun with an Adventure game since Broken Sword 2.

The Longest Journey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Longest_Journey) would also fit quite nicely, as would its sequel Dreamfall. ;)

[Austruck]

Definitely agree with Longest Journey, though I thought Dreamfall didn't have the same feel to it. (Probably because the graphics were better, ha ha.)

Another great game -- that I have to get back to one of these days since I haven't finished it yet -- is Obsidian. Crazy insane in the beginning...

[akatemple]

http://www.gog.com/en/frontpage

You'll find tons there of Adventure (that's the genre you're after, no?) games there. ;)

Since I discovered GoG I've been buying a couple a week, even stuff I already have on disc because it's so handy to have a fully-patched classic game in one handy exec plus loads of freebie extras like soundtracks and wallpapers.

The Broken Sword games are the ones which spring to mind off the top of my head but I'm no expert on new Adventure titles. LA Noire is probably the spiritual successor to the traditional point & click adventure game but I didn't like it.

Website is great, just looked at it and was wondering if you or anyone reading this has played Alone in the Dark, jut wondering if it's just a adventure or if it's like the old Resident Evil where there were puzzles to solve, even though the ones in Resident Evil hardly qualify as puzzles, but you get the idea.

[Tacitus]

From what I remember it's more Resident Evil than anything else. I've not played it in a couple of decades though and it pre-dated Ressie by quite a while.

EDIT - Just had a look and The Longest Journey is on GoG for $9.99. I'm sorely tempted but I'll need to confirm it works on Windows7 as it only mentions Vista in the specs. :D

EDIT 2 - It has some issues for a few people but I'm willing to take the risk.

[akatemple]

There are lots of Myst clones, most of questionable quality. But I have two recommendations that I think "feel" similar, even if they're a bit different:

Syberia
Third-person adventure game with a good story, great music, and a wonderful aesthetic sense. There's a pretty good sequel, too, and rumblings a third game coming soon. Highly recommended. It's not a Myst-style game, exactly, but it has a similar sense of discovery and despite having an inventory it stops well short of the other games where you amass 80 items and put them together in impossible ways. Great voice acting, too. Wait til you meet Momo. :D

Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper
Unbelievable game. I'm not sure if it perfectly follows from the list you've given, but if you play lots of adventure games and largely bemoan how few live up to their promise, this one will win you over. The ways in which you examine the murder scene and piece clues together is very bold, creative, and works more often than not. The historical aspect gives it a real boost, too. You'll have some of the annoying "do a favor for someone so they'll do a favor for someone so they'll do a favor for someone" chains here and there, but it's not too bad, and the game is mildly self-aware and even makes a crack about this trope.

It also does an unbelievable job on a storytelling level; it advances a legitimate theory and combines real life history and Holmes' fictional history in a really elegant way.

Thanks, just purchased Syberia, it looks awsome.

[Tacitus]

Good choice. :up:

Penumbra Overture is another one which has just come to me - It's a first person Adventure/Horror game which you'll need a reasonably modern computer to run.

Chris - I'd been toying with the Sherlock Holmes game for a while on the Xbox but always stopped short, mainly because it looked really cheaply packaged.

Of course, this is a man who bought Deadly Premonition, who's cheap looking cover was one of its strengths. :D

Deadly Premonition would be another possibility if you've got an Xbox. It is, however, *very* strange and almost wilfully outdated in execution.

[linespalsy]

Actually you might like Another World. It's very short, and the puzzles normally have to be arcade-ly executed, but it was pretty neat. I know I got it on the cheap for PC a few years back so should still be available.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgkf6wooDmw&start=278

That game is great, I beat it on ye olde Genesis (it was called Out of This World in the States). Another similar old school game is Flashback, which is very difficult.

akatemple, if you liked Landstalker, Light Crusader should be up your alley. Not as good as Landstalker, but still decent and fairly similar.

[Sleezy]

Wow, Tatty had mentioned Gog.com before, but this is the first chance I've had to check it out. I'm definitely downloading a bunch of these now that I've got a PC to run this stuff.

Is this the only "old PC game" aggregrate site that you guys know of? Tatty, do you know where I can find the old Age of Empires games? The early Elder Scrolls stuff?

[akatemple]

Being a Myst fan from the early days, I totally agree with Yoda's two choices above.

If you're okay with some "horror" elements in your adventure games, there are a ton of 'em out there now. If you want a list, just ask. I currently own over 100 PC adventure games of various types -- some good, some horrible.

I would love some good horror elements in a really good adventure game, I can't think of any horror type adventure game that i've played, although in zork nemesis when you put the head on the spike to get it to talk to you was pretty awesome.

[Austruck]

Wow, Tatty had mentioned Gog.com before, but this is the first chance I've had to check it out. I'm definitely downloading a bunch of these now that I've got a PC to run this stuff.

Is this the only "old PC game" aggregrate site that you guys know of? Tatty, do you know where I can find the old Age of Empires games? The early Elder Scrolls stuff?

Are you talking downloading the games or buying them old-school in the box? Because I've found some games on eBay and also directly with the original publishers, who often still sell them because PC adventure gamers are still buying them.

[akatemple]

http://www.abandonia.com/

this site has some great old school from text games to more modern games and everything on there is free.

[Sleezy]

Are you talking downloading the games or buying them old-school in the box? Because I've found some games on eBay and also directly with the original publishers, who often still sell them because PC adventure gamers are still buying them.

I'm talking about downloading them, sorry. The problem I run into with buying older games on Ebay is that they were designed to run on an older OS and it's tough finding and installing the converters you need, changing your settings, etc. just to get the game to run on, say, XP.

I'm assuming the games on Gog.com are already formatted to run on new systems? Or am I wrong?

[Tacitus]

Heh, I already sent you a PM about the Elder Scrolls games - Arena and Daggerfall have been available for free from Bethesda for a few years now.

The stuff on GoG should all work on modern systems, just check before buying to make sure - It'll say compatible with XP, Vista, W7 etc. I've got Windows 7 x64 and have had no problems with the 6 or 7 I've bought so far, even ones which say aren't compatible. Check the Community tab and the game's specific forum for pointers - There might be one or two which plain don't work.

Other than that, you download an exe file which you just double click (and can store for archiving, unlike Steam) and it installs the game *and* the latest official patch. So much handier than disks, which is why I've bought a couple of games I already own, to save from further scratches.

Most games have some nice freebie extras too, and I think all of them have the manual in a pdf file.

[Sleezy]

Excellent. :D

[Austruck]

Here's a list of adventure-type games, many of which have a darker side, if you're interested. Many are point-and-click types but some are 3D-free roaming. These are in no particular order, but I've at least started all of them and can offer basic opinions if you want...

From the Syberia folks: Paradise, Sinking Island
The Longest Journey, Dreamfall (sequel)
Portal
the Dracula games (3 or 4 of them)
7th Guest (older game)
Lighthouse
The Crystal Key
Sanitarium (weird game, oddly creepy despite older graphics)
Zork: Grand Inquisitor (the funny one in the series)
Scratches (eerie sound effects)
Dark Fall, Lights Out (sequel)
Alida (cool guitar-themed Myst-like game)
Outcry (my most recent purchase -- love this so far)
Agatha Christie mystery games
Aura (not-so-great Myst-wannabe)
Schizm, Mysterious Journey (I and II) -- much harder, more math/physics-based Myst-like games)
Barrow Hill
Keepsake (a little lighter, airy)
Crime Stories
Indigo Prophecy (interactive movie-type game with weird controller issues)
Still Life, Post Mortem (crime mysteries set in modern times and also 19th century)
The Black Mirror (LONG classic adventure with bad voice acting)
The Experiment

... and many more

[akatemple]

I just found a game that I had played many years ago and completely forgotten about, it is the kind of puzzle solving adventure game that I really enjoy, anyone who hasen't played it should if your into this kinda thing.

The Dig
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b1/The_Dig_artwork.jpg