I used to be real stubborn about trying any non-pure "adventure" games (MYST being my reference point). I know that there are lots of you still stuck with that notion on this side of the forum. Well, you need to look outside that old constraint. The new action/adventure games are EVERYTHING that you want in a game. Great Stories, Unparalleled Graphics and Environments, and (and this is a big AND) Great Voice Acting. They are like watching a movie, and then climbing in to the screen yourself.

You usually need a pretty good computer to run these games, but if you have one, then please do yourself a favor and jump in with both feet. You will not regret it (actually you will regret that you have been so stubborn for so long). These games are what MYST wanted to be, but technology hadn't caught up yet.

Here I opine about some recent games, should you still be interested:
Link

Hi BaldBob --

I fixed the link so it would be easier for people to click on it.

A lot of adventure gamers do play various genres. If some of us don't find that action games are particularly interesting, that's just because everyone is different, not because we're stubborn.

I've encountered examples of action and stealth in adventure games, and these are always my least favorite parts when they do occur. (Well, along with pixel hunting.)

I've watched my son playing some of the Prince of Persia games, and they are beautiful. They are also (cough, cough) extremely repetitive.

I don't think that Cyan was really trying to create Prince of Persia when they made Myst (though I don't know for sure, of course). I suspect they wanted to create a fully explorable environment (as they eventually did in realMYST,) but they wanted adventurers to be thinking and solving puzzles, not jumping around walls and platforms and fighting monsters (not that there's anything wrong with jumping and fighting, just that Myst is different than that).

BaldBob I must say I love Adventure games but I also love the Tomb Raider series! So much to see an explore with Lara!

I'm a long time Adventure player who has also managed (and very much enjoyed) some RPG games but "Action/Adventure" is a separate area and definitely not for me !!

I've tried several - including a couple of Tomb Raiders - so I'm hardly stubborn. I just really disliked them

It's simply a matter of personal preference

Couldn't have said it better, Mad. Except to note that A/A hybrids are not at all kind to aging reflexes.

Gil.

What's interesting is, all games are fundamentally repetitive. The real difference, as y'all have said, is whether the style of gameplay interests you enough that you don't really realize it it doesn't really bother you.

Also, agree with Becky on Myst, although some Darkside levels are so deviously designed that they're, in effect, puzzles in themselves!

Agree with much that has been said-we are all different when it comes to game choices-
I am a "tri-polar" player: in that I switch back and forth between the adventures, actions and RPGs. I like the adventure games because they are more relaxed, require brain usage to solve puzzles, the action/RPGs because of the freedom of movement and challenge of getting characters through a dangerous or imaginative game world.When I get tired of struggling with a tough battle or move, I switch to an adventure game for awhile-It's taken me 3 months so far to finish Psychonauts-great game BTW-a definite platformer, but has elements of adventure-well it's wildly imaginative and different.Love the Thief series for the same reason. Sands of Time also has fantastic environments to explore-had to resort to a couple of saved games to get past some impossible places.
Agree with Bald bob that if you play only adventure games you are missing out on some great game experiences.

"The real difference, as y'all have said, is whether the style of gameplay interests you enough that you don't really realize it."

Who said we don't realise it ??
Of course we realise it !!

But if we are playing something we like, it's not a problem

Which was sort of my point, more or less.
All I meant was that if you're constantly conscious of a game's repetitiveness, in a negative way, you're likely bored. The best games suck you into the world so well that you forget about gameplay mechanics altogether.

If I can get just one person to venture outside the different-strokes-for-different-folks barrier.............my work here is done. I risked it, and the quality of the stuff out there makes my jaw hit the floor.

Kaki's Sister: seriously consider the new Prince of Persia and Batman (yes yes I know, Batman, yawn, but it ropes you in over time) Arkham Asylum. Both kinda expensive now. But when the price comes down...mehinks you will like.

Those MYST books in the Library would have made a seriously excellent action/adventure component addition to the game's eye candy and atmosphere ... had they had the technology to do it in the 90's.

Thanks BaldBob. I will keep an eye on the price of the new Prince of Persia and Batman.

I would love to have bigger game worlds to explore and new stories to follow, but the very thing I love about Myst is the solitary and peaceful nature of the game. I don't want to meet anyone in my travels, and I definitely don't want to fight or have to confront physical challenges. It's not a matter of being stubborn, it's just a matter of what's available.

I would guess that nearly everyone who plays adventure games has played other genres at some point or other. Finding someone who's never tried one before is going to be difficult. Gameboomers members who enjoy them are already using the Darkside forum. Others have problems not only with their reflexes being too slow but with the idea of fighting.


Just be aware that Prince of Persia has restrictive DRM that requires you to stay connected to the Internet all the while you play it.

And Batman has a single save -- an autosave. It won't let you save where you want and saves automatically in certain locations. Batman also uses Windows Live, which is controversial with some gamers and has caused some not to be able to play. Check out the reviews at Amazon, especially the ***one-star reviews*** from people who were not able to play it after buying it. One of them says:

Just be aware of what you may be getting into. I am definitely not in favor of a DRM that cripples the game if it "thinks" you are a pirate. And check Brian W.'s review for a possible workaround -- how you may be able to avoid the Windows Live (though not the SecuROM).

"I used to be real stubborn about trying any non-pure "adventure" games (MYST being my reference point). I know that there are lots of you still stuck with that notion on this side of the forum. Well, you need to look outside that old constraint."

Well I never even viewed Myst type game as the pure form of the genre and Ive never considered Adventure gaming as a "constraint". I play them cos I like them. Ive played all sorts of genres over the years yet it's the adventures I keep coming back to. The problem with action adventures is they are just not that good. They may be better eye candy as you say they are low down the pecking order of genre types in my opinion.

"I used to be real stubborn about trying any non-pure "adventure" games (MYST being my reference point). I know that there are lots of you still stuck with that notion on this side of the forum."

I kind of resent the notion that I am "stuck" in any way! I've chosen what I like and enjoy.

"The new action/adventure games are EVERYTHING that you want in a game."

No, they're not.

"You usually need a pretty good computer to run these games, but if you have one, then please do yourself a favor and jump in with both feet. You will not regret it (actually you will regret that you have been so stubborn for so long)."

I have a brand new, fairly high-end computer but have no inclination to play action/adventures.