You must feel very relieved.

After playing 5 years of adventures, I find my tastes are getting more particular rather than more encompassing. Even though there is a good variety of games available, there is still some degree of trends. Right now there seems to be fewer of 1st person puzzle/solitary exploration type games which are the ones I covet the most. As such, I have to admit a waning interest in the genre, though I do keep visiting the forums for info on new games.
I know I'm in the minority and that I'm overly restrictive. Other than PJ's jigsaws, I don't play any other games, but I have had more time for my other passion - reading .

For me as long as the game is fun, I really don't care. For example, normally I hate mazes, but tI liked the mazes in DSJ 3 - go figure! A lack of consistency bothers me as does changing the rules. Like when every object you examine in your inventory and you can only see from one side, but then they throw in one that you can rotate to see a note stuck on the bottom or something. If you can rotate one object, then you should be able to rotate all of them. It should be consistent. Or perhaps when left-clicking gets you through everything, then suddenly the game requires a right-click in a particular spot.

Anyway, the bottom line is that it should be fun. Developers can throw in whatever they want as far as I'm concerned as long as it's fair and balanced. Once the bad frustration sets in, then I quickly lose interest. "Bad frustration" meaning unfair. There is the "good frustration" by being faced with a particularly tough challenge, but there is a fine line there.

Hmmm, now I'm off and wondering if maybe facts and opinions aren't getting mixed up here. A game is a fact! Good and bad are judgement calls which in turn are opinions! The difference between a fact and an opinion is that a fact doesn't change and it is the same for everybody. Opinions, like fingerprints, are always personal, but unlike fingerprints (which are facts come to think of it) can change at any moment. Then again, fun and frustration are emotions and/or reactions and belong with opinions, not facts, at least I think so.
Now to show where I stand: I like opinions and I don't much care about facts. Since a fact stays the same there isn't that much to think about until one has an opinion or reaction to it.
I'm trying to show here that complaining about something doesn't mean that the something is like the complainer says it is EXCEPT to the complainer. So, complainers can only speak for themselves and that is exactly what I try to do. Sheesh, being honest isn't easy!

What do I expect from a game?

Well, whatever it says on the box really. If that's what it does, and how it looks and plays I can't fault it. I bought it after all.

What really annoys me though are games that do not run properly on the systems specified on the box.

I expect glitches if I buy older games and try to run them on a modern operating system, but not with new games. This smacks of "Get it on the shelf quickly and get the money rolling in. Nevermind if it does not work, they've already bought it!"
With the cost of some games I do not think it is reasonable to expect the customer to beta test the products without knowing.

One game I had this experience with was Runaway - A Road Adventure. Whatever I have tried it will not run past the introduction video sequence. I have e-mailed the Pendulo help address several times, but never recieved a reply, let alone a solution.

I am not alone with this problem, and the fault appears to be crying out for a patch, but obviously the makers can't be bothered.

Needless to say I will not be buying any more games from this source.

Hi

I have vary rarely bought a game which I haven't been able to get to run no matter what .... In fact I truly can't name a single ONE. So you have been unlucky there

I presume the answer is that all games simply won't run on all systems .... no matter how hard the developers try .... Or we would be in Eutopia

But I presume you haven't had TOO MUCH bad luck because I see you here on the Adventure Discussion Board quite a lot - so I'm guessing you have SOME goodies to talk about

Cheers.

Mad

What I expect is that a game will be what it says it is. If it's supposed to be an adventure game, I don't want it to turn out to be a collection of arcade sequences. If it's advertised as "Myst-like" I expect a lot of mechanical puzzles and I don't want to be listening to a lot of dialogue. If it says it's reminiscent of the old LucasArts games, I expect a certain level of quality in the way the game is put together -- the soundtrack, the humor, the voice acting.

I also expect the interface to work with the game. I don't care if it's a point-and-click like Syberia or a real time 3D like Sentinel, but I do expect a manageable interface (as these 2 games had). I don't want to have to learn a completely new control system for every new game I play, especially because it involves unlearning what I learned in the last game -- and pity the gamer who has more than one game going at the same time. I also don't want to have to click 6 different things just to apply an inventory item. And I don't want to have to have to fiddle with moving a character around and facing all different directions in order to locate and pick up inventory. That's not what I think of as manageable.

I also expect the game to be tested for bugs, both the gamestopping kind and the nuisance kind where you hear conversations out of order or miss them entirely. It shouldn't be necessary to do things in a certain order to avoid a dead end. No one likes to be told that that's the reason they're stuck.

Amen to that Jenny. You very eloquently put what I have been unable to express so far. Well said and I wholehearedly agree.

Ana

Thank Goodness...

For the reviewers on this forum....
I am not in the dark anymore..when I buy a game..

Hi Mad!

Maybe you read me wrong. I'm an avid adventure gamer, and have had to do some strange things to my PC to get it to run various games at one time or another. Runaway defies all attempts.

What I object to is the complete indifference referred to in my post above. I would expect a reputable company, when provided with the full specification of an operating system to at least offer an explanation of why the game will not run, and not just ignore me.

I expect to be absorbed within the game. I prefer my games to be mouse-driven and I do like pretty graphics. A story is nice but not essential to the enjoyment (some of them really wouldn't hold up to scrutiny but were fun anyway). For me it is like being involved within a book and I play instead of read it.

I don't like the way the Nancy Drew games have been going as I feel like a virtual slave doing all those chores instead of investigating a mystery. I really liked the earlier games like Haunted Mansion and Royal Tower. I don't like extremely long dialog trees unless they are witty, like TLJ. And I loved Flight of the Amazon Queen and really enjoy games like that but I am not sure how you would characterize them.

I do expect the game to look like the screenshots.

Does this help?
Linda

Hi gordon24

I must agree that to be completely ignored when you have a problem is not nice

Have you tried asking for help on our Glitches Board ??

The techies residing (and visiting) there have been known to come up with all sorts of stylish solutions to problems

Cheers.

Mad

Thanks Mad,

Tried Gameboomers and other "Glitch" forums back in July, and tried all the suggestions to no avail. Thought I had solved it by getting a saved game from a pal from the very beginning of the game which allowed me to start it, but as soon as another video sequence came up the programme went into a continuous loop again.

It appears that something is missing that tells the programme to return to the game at the end of a video cut scene, so it just repeats endlessly.

gordon24

For new AGs, I expect it to be as advertised - to want to play it it has to have a good story with an easy interface. ( I will put up with something clumsier if the game is good enough but I can't see the need - developers should put more thought into this in the first place!!!) The game should have no installation problems & NO GLITCHES! - these should be ironed out before the game is released! (In my experience the Indie developers generally seem to be better than that than large publishers) I also expect a good support system - there are so many different PC types & configurations that the developer/publisher should be prepared to make sure their games work on a variety of systems & give the necessary support to make it happen!
The games should also play consistently (Re:Ivinia's post earlier!) - i.e no changing the rules during the game!!

I think Jenny100 has caught what I expect out of a game to be satisfied. If the images in the game are about the same quality as the ones shown on the box & the website, if the interface works well enough for what I am asked to do (no speed challenges for Mr Turtle characters or cursors), if it reminds me reasonably of whatever genre it claims to be like - then its fair.

If the story engages my mind, the puzzles tease me into solving them, the dialogue makes me laugh so hard it instantly becomes a family pre-occupation (because they heard and came over to join in) and/or the game as a whole can keep me so immersed I forget I just missed lunch (or first looked for it in the village onscreen) - then I just found a new classic.

My current goal in life is to share a story or five that are that good...though it will probably take me years (especially at the current rate of progress :P) But, hey, we all have to have a dream

Susan

Let's hear it for Flight of the Amazon Queen, which I found in Free Games Galore over a year ago, but it probably still is there. I definitely call it an: Adventure Game! It harkens back to the good adventure days when the adventure came before the fancy high-tech stuff which is more pre-occupied with getting real-life effects like shadows and blowing leaves and moving waves and never mind the reason for playing in the first place. I don't look at shadows in real life, why should I bother with them in a game?

I fully agree with chrissie.

After BAAGing my way through mainstream games I have only relatively recently begun investing in Indie games. I find the way these games run on my PC to be on the whole more reliable than the "Big Name" games.

If Indies can do it with their proportionately limited resources there is no excuse for the big players in the market not getting it right.

gordon24

Well, of course there is an excuse for not getting it right. It is called Murphy's Law: If there is a wromg way to do something, somebody will find it! I know for a fact as I have found it many a time myself.

Hi

I still play Flight of the Amazon Queen from my original boxed version bought years ago. Love it !!

In fact I still play many old adventures from that era - they form the core of my games collection. But unfortunately, in some ways, not many of them have ever become free downloads.

I feel though that the criteria in those days was much different than today. Expectations of graphics and the like certainly didn't seem to be so demanding. Not many people would even have had a PC sophisticated enough to handle anything better.
[I didn't demand anything more than I got, I was so very happy to get whatever was available ]

As we all know, none of the really BIG game developers from those days are ever likey to return to that format and give us more - but we are being treated to generous portions of games that are very like Traditional Adventure Games from newer, up and coming developers

And if we keep buying their products hopefully they will keep making games for us

Cheers.

Mad

Good to hear of people aiming to share stories.

Hope you find (if required) the necessary help!

What do i expect from a game?...well...Everything!! I expect to be absorbed into it...able to navigate through it without wishing i were an octopus. I expect a great story, great testing,..ALL of it great! AND i expect it to be aware of the fact that not everyone will have a brand spanking new PC! Thank goodness for the 'Indie' developers for giving us what we want....well done adventure games....not action/adventure games..but Adventure games! They fill a niche that had been wanting! I just love it when after only the first few minutes of play i have to pause, go turn on answering machine, let dog out/in, feed dog, get a plate of snacks ready, get hot pot heating water for tea...(or fill extra ice cube tray-or both), and set the VCR.... Really enjoy getting 'sucked' into a game....is such a wonderful experience..atmosphere;atmosphere!!

Hi

"Really enjoy getting 'sucked' into a game....is such a wonderful experience..atmosphere;atmosphere!!"

Oh, I so AGREE !!!!

Cheers.

Mad