Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island 2 are up there, as are Planetfall, Beyond Zork, Trinity, LOOM, Starship Titanic, and various others.
BUT.
Generally speaking, there has been a single identifying thread that determines what kind of game can really truly get me emotionally invested. If a game contains a player-agnostic world, I can really get into it. When characters move about on their own schedule and on their own will, rather than waiting around for the player to drop by and do something? That draws me in. The more characters are treated as people living about their own lives, the more I tend to be drawn in. This is why I am a huge fan of Reputation systems in RPGs, where a character can like or dislike you based on your political or group affiliation(this is a big part of why I loved Morrowind, how intricate the politics were). It's why I love Maniac Mansion, with its scripted characters being the most "alive" of any graphical adventure characters to that point, moving about their paths with characters having to avoid them, reacting to changes in environment, recognizing things and acting accordingly. It's why I love Planetfall, whose entire design was based on making people care about Floyd, giving him a degree of autonomy and a wide range of reactivity to player commands. I like when a game world feels like it exists on its own and I happen to arrive there, rather than feeling like the game world is a theme park skin over a mechanical skeleton designed to give me a specific set of encounters. That approach definitely has its merits and I absolutely love a lot of games that go with that approach, but the upper limit is still to some degree lower in terms of my emotional response. And in the regards of creating a truly living adventure game world, The Last Express was the greatest example of its time and continues to be the greatest example to date. There's shit this game does that not only hasn't been DONE in the past 15 years, I'm not even sure anybody has even TRIED.
We're talking about a game that is multilingual, where people talk in their own languages. Your character is an American that knows French, German, and Russian, so those languages are subtitled for you, and people speaking in those languages assume you can't understand what they're saying. He doesn't know Arabic or Serbo-Croatian, and so people who speak in those languages(and they do!) have dialog that is NOT subtitled. It's really cool!
We're talking about a game where you can stand next to a table and listen to conversation about local politics, or economics, giving a real feeling of the tensions that existed in 1914 ahead of the first World War, or things that might just be of interest to people in that class during that time period. Many conversations are largely optional, but sometimes it's great to just listen in even if you aren't looking at that person for clues for the great mystery that unfolds throughout.
The game is full of excellent flavor text, in diaries, newspapers, sketchbooks manifests etc, giving the world a sense of authenticity and providing the proper historical perspective.
This is a game that reacts to your actions in very interesting ways. Early on, you find a dead body in your room. If you leave it be, the conductor finds you and it's Game Over. You can push it out the window....but you're very close to Paris, and the city's police find the body, and you have to deal with them(and can!). BUT, there is also a THIRD possibility, where you can hide the body for the first check, and then dump it out the window when your character is in rural territory, before anyone finds the hidden body on a second pass-through. There are a number of actions that can be performed in any order, and many conversations change depending on what you've done and who you've talked to, making this somewhat short game very replayable.
This is a game that includes a violin concert that lasts a full 20 minutes of real time, which you could spend just sitting down in one of the chairs and listening to if you so desire.
This is a game that looks like this:
Seriously, if not the best adventure game of all time, The Last Express is one of the most fascinating, ambitious, and truly mature and artful games ever made to date, and it deserves far, far better than it ever got.
Time to get your evil Pikmin on with today's new Overlord bundle. This bundle is only $9.99, and it comes with Overlord and Overlord: Raising Hell.
Edit: And here's some more stuff. Remember when GOG released DLC for Omerta, and everyone raged? Well, they're doing it all over again! 5 bucks for the Damsel in Distress DLC for Omerta. Also, both Don't Starve and Fez are now scheduled for release on GOG.
It was 50% off during the winter sale, but 75% off (or was it 80%?) during the Linux sale. If you're in Europe that would have made it slightly more expensive than the current GOG price.
They're producing a remake of Flashback - and they're not only evading gog.com for this, no, as things stand, they don't even make a PC version at all!
Look at the youtube trailer comments, seriously. The young hipsters don't even know what this is supposed to be (while I, of course, have started drooling in reflex).
Alrighty, first off we've got a price drop. Incredipede is now $9.99, down from 15 bucks. For releases, we've got Sword of the Stars: The Pit, which appears to be some kind of roguelike, turn based RPG for the launch price of $7.49. Also, you can pre-order Dyad, a psychadelic, music themed tunnel shooter puzzle game, for the launch price of $11.99.
I'm not sure about Don't Starve... will have to check what kind of gameplay it renders.
I've been playing the crap out of the Don't Starve beta on Steam. I enjoy it a lot (enough to pump over 130 hours into it) but it is indeed rather difficult and unforgiving, with almost no handholding and permadeath.
It's a wee bit like Minecraft or Terraria if they focused much less on building and much more on survival mechanics. There's a customizable sandbox-y hub world which can go on as long as you're capable of surviving in it, as well as an adventure mode you can access within that hub world which is where the game's story takes place.
I've been playing the crap out of the Don't Starve beta on Steam. I enjoy it a lot (enough to pump over 130 hours into it) but it is indeed rather difficult and unforgiving, with almost no handholding and permadeath.
It's a wee bit like Minecraft or Terraria if they focused much less on building and much more on survival mechanics. There's a customizable sandbox-y hub world which can go on as long as you're capable of surviving in it, as well as an adventure mode you can access within that hub world which is where the game's story takes place.
I dunno, it's not as hard as I expected. It's real simple to get hang of the mechanics in a couple of hours, which will let you survive anything. And then there's really not much to do, just sit by and wait until something random tries to kill you and fails.
Not gonna play until the full release, maybe they'll amp up the survival a bit more and add more shit.
I dunno, it's not as hard as I expected. It's real simple to get hang of the mechanics in a couple of hours, which will let you survive anything. And then there's really not much to do, just sit by and wait until something random tries to kill you and fails.
Not gonna play until the full release, maybe they'll amp up the survival a bit more and add more shit.
I suppose I should clarify that the sandbox isn't very difficult unless you ramp up the settings, but adventure mode certainly is. Sandbox is in a much better state difficulty-wise than it was before, though, since the addition of winter and the sanity meter.
I do think that there should be more late-game threats in the survival hub world, and hopefully those will be added in the post-launch updates.
I suppose I should clarify that the sandbox isn't very difficult unless you ramp up the settings, but adventure mode certainly is. Sandbox is in a much better state difficulty-wise than it was before, though, since the addition of winter and the sanity meter.
I do think that there should be more late-game threats in the survival hub world, and hopefully those will be added in the post-launch updates.
Oh, that might explain it. I only tried the first level of Adventure Mode and intentionally killed myself, because it wasn't finished and I didn't wanna ruin the experience for later on, when it does get finished.
I'm out of jokes where I pretend to not know who Telltale Games is, so I'll just cut right to the chase. All Telltale Games stuff on GOG is 85% off this weekend. Since there was no DRM free version of Wallace and Gromit released, it's pretty cheap on GOG to grab a DRM free version there. Also soundtracks, which I still can't believe Telltale hasn't put up here.
Speaking of soundtracks, La-Mulana has been updated to include the full, 3 disc soundtrack. That's good, GOG, now can we have a talk about Alan Wake?
Haven't they been this cheap before? Or is this a better deal? I could swear I've seen a similar offer to this back in the lead-up to Christmas, or maybe my mind's playing tricks on me. Again. *sigh*
Haven't they been this cheap before? Or is this a better deal? I could swear I've seen a similar offer to this back in the lead-up to Christmas, or maybe my mind's playing tricks on me. Again. *sigh*
I'm out of jokes where I pretend to not know who Telltale Games is, so I'll just cut right to the chase. All Telltale Games stuff on GOG is 85% off this weekend. Since there was no DRM free version of Wallace and Gromit released, it's pretty cheap on GOG to grab a DRM free version there. Also soundtracks, which I still can't believe Telltale hasn't put up here.
You got me pretty excited there thinking there were soundtracks for all of the games, but it's only for the two first seasons of Sam & Max and I've already got them on CDs.
I still needed S&M3 and TOMI on GOG, so thanks for that. Well, I don't have Wallace and Gromit, but I don't really want it. I played it after having bought it (on the cheap) from the Telltale Store, and I guess I'm not really keen on it.
...now, if only GOG would add Strong Bad's Cool Game.
Alrighty, a bit of a delay to get Eador: Masters of the Broken World ready, and we've got This Week in GOG. Your clue for next week's classic game is that it "gives you everything and then doubles it and does so for the second time".
Gah. I fell into the trap and bought Telltale's games again on GOG.com (I can't pass up the opportunity to support any company whose games I enjoy when they release games completely DRM free, especially when there's a sale like this). I now own these games many times over for different distribution systems and/or platforms.
As do I now. Let's see... I own Sam & Max S1 and S2... [Counts on Fingers] 5 times (Wii, PC - Steam, GOG, here and on DVD), S3, SBCG4AP and ToMI 5 times (only swap Wii for the PS3), Wallace & Gromit 3 times (Steam, here & DVD) and BTTF & Jurassic Park twice (here & Steam).
As do I now. Let's see... I own Sam & Max S1 and S2... [Counts on Fingers] 5 times (Wii, PC - Steam, GOG, here and on DVD), S3, SBCG4AP and ToMI 5 times (only swap Wii for the PS3), Wallace & Gromit 3 times (Steam, here & DVD) and BTTF & Jurassic Park twice (here & Steam).
I don't own them on console (I don't generally buy duplicates), and I haven't bought them on Steam because Steam would create 5 entries per game on most of them. The reason why I bought them on GOG when I have them here is for the sake of having downloadable titles kept together in the same place. I'm kinda OCD about my software/media organizational habits. Case in point:
Puzzlebox, tell TTG to get with GOG about selling SBCG4AP. I want to buy it there, please.
Comments
Uh, didn't see that one there.
BUT.
Generally speaking, there has been a single identifying thread that determines what kind of game can really truly get me emotionally invested. If a game contains a player-agnostic world, I can really get into it. When characters move about on their own schedule and on their own will, rather than waiting around for the player to drop by and do something? That draws me in. The more characters are treated as people living about their own lives, the more I tend to be drawn in. This is why I am a huge fan of Reputation systems in RPGs, where a character can like or dislike you based on your political or group affiliation(this is a big part of why I loved Morrowind, how intricate the politics were). It's why I love Maniac Mansion, with its scripted characters being the most "alive" of any graphical adventure characters to that point, moving about their paths with characters having to avoid them, reacting to changes in environment, recognizing things and acting accordingly. It's why I love Planetfall, whose entire design was based on making people care about Floyd, giving him a degree of autonomy and a wide range of reactivity to player commands. I like when a game world feels like it exists on its own and I happen to arrive there, rather than feeling like the game world is a theme park skin over a mechanical skeleton designed to give me a specific set of encounters. That approach definitely has its merits and I absolutely love a lot of games that go with that approach, but the upper limit is still to some degree lower in terms of my emotional response. And in the regards of creating a truly living adventure game world, The Last Express was the greatest example of its time and continues to be the greatest example to date. There's shit this game does that not only hasn't been DONE in the past 15 years, I'm not even sure anybody has even TRIED.
We're talking about a game that is multilingual, where people talk in their own languages. Your character is an American that knows French, German, and Russian, so those languages are subtitled for you, and people speaking in those languages assume you can't understand what they're saying. He doesn't know Arabic or Serbo-Croatian, and so people who speak in those languages(and they do!) have dialog that is NOT subtitled. It's really cool!
We're talking about a game where you can stand next to a table and listen to conversation about local politics, or economics, giving a real feeling of the tensions that existed in 1914 ahead of the first World War, or things that might just be of interest to people in that class during that time period. Many conversations are largely optional, but sometimes it's great to just listen in even if you aren't looking at that person for clues for the great mystery that unfolds throughout.
The game is full of excellent flavor text, in diaries, newspapers, sketchbooks manifests etc, giving the world a sense of authenticity and providing the proper historical perspective.
This is a game that reacts to your actions in very interesting ways. Early on, you find a dead body in your room. If you leave it be, the conductor finds you and it's Game Over. You can push it out the window....but you're very close to Paris, and the city's police find the body, and you have to deal with them(and can!). BUT, there is also a THIRD possibility, where you can hide the body for the first check, and then dump it out the window when your character is in rural territory, before anyone finds the hidden body on a second pass-through. There are a number of actions that can be performed in any order, and many conversations change depending on what you've done and who you've talked to, making this somewhat short game very replayable.
This is a game that includes a violin concert that lasts a full 20 minutes of real time, which you could spend just sitting down in one of the chairs and listening to if you so desire.
This is a game that looks like this:
Seriously, if not the best adventure game of all time, The Last Express is one of the most fascinating, ambitious, and truly mature and artful games ever made to date, and it deserves far, far better than it ever got.
Seriously, at $2.39, it's less than what most people spend at Starbucks. Do yourself a favour and pick up an amazing game for ridiculously cheap.
Edit: And here's some more stuff. Remember when GOG released DLC for Omerta, and everyone raged? Well, they're doing it all over again! 5 bucks for the Damsel in Distress DLC for Omerta. Also, both Don't Starve and Fez are now scheduled for release on GOG.
For now.
Fez is great. Been waiting for a PC version since it's release.
They're producing a remake of Flashback - and they're not only evading gog.com for this, no, as things stand, they don't even make a PC version at all!
Look at the youtube trailer comments, seriously. The young hipsters don't even know what this is supposed to be (while I, of course, have started drooling in reflex).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_W_tRZwpSYk
Ubi really thought the consoleros would be interested? Come ON.
And stupid. Very, very stupid.
I've been playing the crap out of the Don't Starve beta on Steam. I enjoy it a lot (enough to pump over 130 hours into it) but it is indeed rather difficult and unforgiving, with almost no handholding and permadeath.
It's a wee bit like Minecraft or Terraria if they focused much less on building and much more on survival mechanics. There's a customizable sandbox-y hub world which can go on as long as you're capable of surviving in it, as well as an adventure mode you can access within that hub world which is where the game's story takes place.
I dunno, it's not as hard as I expected. It's real simple to get hang of the mechanics in a couple of hours, which will let you survive anything. And then there's really not much to do, just sit by and wait until something random tries to kill you and fails.
Not gonna play until the full release, maybe they'll amp up the survival a bit more and add more shit.
I suppose I should clarify that the sandbox isn't very difficult unless you ramp up the settings, but adventure mode certainly is. Sandbox is in a much better state difficulty-wise than it was before, though, since the addition of winter and the sanity meter.
I do think that there should be more late-game threats in the survival hub world, and hopefully those will be added in the post-launch updates.
Oh, that might explain it. I only tried the first level of Adventure Mode and intentionally killed myself, because it wasn't finished and I didn't wanna ruin the experience for later on, when it does get finished.
Speaking of soundtracks, La-Mulana has been updated to include the full, 3 disc soundtrack. That's good, GOG, now can we have a talk about Alan Wake?
Last time, I think it was 80% off.
You got me pretty excited there thinking there were soundtracks for all of the games, but it's only for the two first seasons of Sam & Max and I've already got them on CDs.
...now, if only GOG would add Strong Bad's Cool Game.
Seriously, I'm thinking a lot about purchasing Seasons 1 and 2 again. DRM free is quite the argument in this case.
(The Bike Shed's just next to the swings. You can't miss it.)
The ones that others repaired for you if you hadn't done it yourself before wandering off to check the fence?
Puzzlebox, tell TTG to get with GOG about selling SBCG4AP. I want to buy it there, please.
http://amzn.com/B00004VXA2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC9SbDZwQhI