Has anyone found good adventure games on Big Fish that are NOT based on the HOG concept? They group these all together, and it is daunting to search and open hundreds of games, looking for a "real" adventure game.

Search "BigFish" here in subject under Adventure Games and they will all come up.

BigFish search results

Yes, I did that. The thing is, Big Fish groups almost every game they have under the "Adventure" category, including HOGs, Bubble Popping, Puzzles, and even Arcade style games. They do the same thing for each of their other game genres, too. Why even create the separate categories, when the same games appear in the multiple lists?

I have taken the time to sort through the first two columns of games in the Adventure category, all the way down to the "P" level of the alphabet. Most of the games do identify their genre in a pop-up (when you mouse across the game title), so you can avoid explicitly HOG or Arcade stuff -- but not all of them self-identify. So, you can download a trial game that you think is strictly Adventure, only to find that it starts off by dumping you into an HOG scene, and you have to unload the game and try another. This has happened to me several times already.

There clearly are some true "Adventure" games in their mix - games like Agon, Nibiru, Amerizone, etc - and I took encouragement from that. But how can a person find other Adventure games without having to download a trial game each time, to see if it really is "Adventure" and not another HOG? Is that even possible?

Yep, I have tried searching by "Large File" games, too. When you do that, it generates a huge list that includes all the Mystery Tracker and Mystery Case Files and Dark Parables and Hidden Expedition games - all HOGs. I know because I have played many of them. I do see other games in the Large File list that I know are "Adventure," but only because I already played them and so I know them to be such.

The problem remains: If you are looking for a specific game that you already know about, fine. If you don't have a title in mind and/or don't know the games generated by the Search program, you are back to having to download a trial to find out what it is. That is where I am stuck.

Is there any way around this? Maybe a site other than Big Fish that might list PC games separated into meaningful genres?

I don't know any way around the problem of having hidden object puzzle adventure games mixed in with adventure games on the list - although, if you go to the forum for each game, some of the forum comments may well tip you off as to whether or not it is strictly an adventure game.

Yeah, I guess I'll try that. It might be faster than having to download and play one to find out what it is. Thanks for the idea!

It might not work for all games but would probably work for at least some.

Oh, and if you do Search the site (Big Fish) using the term "Large File," about 90% of the listings generated will be for Strategy Guides for the games Big Fish sells.

Reenie ,There are a few adventure games on BF but not that many. This is just one of them that I started to play really nice pure adventure( Diamon Jones - Eye of the Dragon) there is another Diamond Jones one to. Pretty hard if you don't know the title of the game ,search isn't much help. I tried the search and entered adventure games all that came up is HO.

Richard

GOG separates games into genres, but there are a few RPG's mixed with the Adventures. At least you can tell from the description what they are, and they seem to be better than most other sites.
http://www.gog.com/games/adventure

Steam seems to mix other genres in their adventure category, so the same problem as Big Fish.

ShinyLoot also mixes in other genres, though not as badly as Steam or Big Fish.
http://www.shinyloot.com/adventure-games

It was not much different back when you could buy games in stores. The "Adventure" section (if there was one) would contain lots of non-adventure games.

Thanks, Richard! I'll check out that one today. I was hoping for just this sort of info!

GOG has a nice selection, Jenny. I had forgotten about them, even though I still have them bookmarked. Thanks!

Reenie, the games the Richard mentioned plus all the other adventure games at BigFish are all in the link I gave you in my reply earlier.

Return to Mysterious Island 2:
Return to Mysterious Island

Nancy Drew: The Silent Spy
Riddle of the Sphinx
Nancy Drew - Danger on Deception Island

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened
Sherlock Holmes VS Jack the Ripper
Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the
Sherlock Holmes - The Secret of the Silver Earring
Sherlock Holmes VS Arsene Lupin
Sherlock Holmes - The Mystery of the Mummy


I have found these on Big Fish, they are all adventure games. Hope this helps.

Cari.

Thanks, Cari! I played the Mysterious Island games and half those Sherlocks. All excellent. Loved Riddle of the Sphynx, too. We have the same taste in games. LOL Guess I'll have to try a Nancy Drew . . .

Big Fish actually has all the Nancy Drew games except for one that has been discontinued and the two latest ones.

Some others...

The Delaware St. John series
Delaware St. John: Volume 1: The Curse of Midnight Manor
Delaware St. John: Volume 2: The Town with No Name
Delaware St. John: Volume 3: The Seacliff Tragedy

Hotel

Kaptain Brawe: Episode I
Kaptain Brawe: Episode II

The Legend of Crystal Valley (Big Fish lists it with the "T's" instead of the "L's" because no one ever taught them that you're supposed to alphabetize under the 2nd word of the title when it starts with "A," "An," or "The."

Relics: Dark Hours (same developer as Delaware St. John, but this game uses filmed footage)

Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches

Safecracker (the Kheops game from 2006)

The Secret of the Nautilus (again listed under the T's). I don't recommend this version because many of the puzzles and hotspots have been omitted. Though I do not miss the action/timed stuff, they've also removed other puzzles and locations.

Be aware that ANY older 1st person game from Big Fish (especially those that were originally published by Cryo, Kheops, or Microids) may suffer the same problems as Secret of the Nautilus, with puzzles and locations where you can removed, sometimes in exchange from slightly higher resolution graphics. This is not Big Fish's doing and is the fault of the company they got the rights from (which I think is the same company that did Dracula 4 and 5). For those kinds of games, it's better to go to a company like GOG, or even Adventure Shop, that sells the original version (and not the dumbed down version that has fewer places to explore and fewer objects to interact with).

Kheops games that might be affected include Dracula 3, Nostradamus: The Last Prophecy, Cleopatra: A Queen's Destiny, Destination: Treasure Island, Secrets of Da Vinci, Echo: Secrets of the Lost Cavern, Voyage: Journey to the Moon, Return to Mysterious Island 1 and 2, Safecracker, Egypt II: The Heliopolis Prophecy, Egypt III: The Fate of Ramses. If you've never played the original version of these games, you might wonder why anyone recommended them, or you may wonder why your walkthrough talks about so many puzzles you don't see in the game. I have not played the Big Fish versions of all of these, so can't be sure they ALL are "abridged" versions. But I suspect they are.

Wow, thanks! I have heard of the Delaware St. John games, and I will try those. I loved Hotel and Safecracker. I bought Safecracker in hard copy and replay it every year. Love those excellent puzzles! I sure wish another game like that would come out. And thanks for the heads up about games that may have been "altered." I really appreciate the warning. That would not be a pleasant thing to discover after purchase.

Nightmare Adventures: The Witch's Prison and Nightmare Adventures: The Turning Thorn are also adventure games.

Big Fish also has Scratches: Director's Cut.

Of course Reenie's original post still makes a valid point. Big Fish throws everything but the kitchen sink into the "Adventure" category -- not just adventure and "adventure lite" games but completely different genres. So their "Adventure" classification isn't really useful.

They've also got one of the slowest websites on the Internet. Too many useless Flash gizmos loading up and running.

IMHO, Big Fish is mostly useful for people who like HOGs, and there are some good ones in that mix if you look hard enough. I've played at least a dozen of the longer and more intricate ones. But 95% of the site seems to be small file games, Bubble-Popping and Candy Crush clones. Not a site that would hold much interest for an Adventure game player.

Still, I now have a few suggestions to look into before bailing on the site completely.

Atlantis Evolution, Nibiru, Paradise, and Sinking Island are also available there I believe.

Just Adventure just revamped there store and they have a nice collection of adventure games. They certainly have a lot of the Nancy Drew games and I see Machinarium is on sale at 75% off. If you haven't played that one yet you should.

Thanks for the reminder about JA. I will take another look there! I did buy Machinarium and enjoyed it immensely until I hit an arcade-type sequence that I simply could not beat. I need a game that doesn't require me to jump in the air over moving hot lava while juggling a six-legged crocodile and four chickens whose eggs I must also catch before they hit the ground. OK, that is an exaggeration, but really, I don't have the reflexes of a teenager any more. Could never finish Machinarium.

I never finished Machinarium either. After trying for a little over an hour, I exited the game intending to try again later. Only when I restarted the game -- no saves. The stupid game used Flash cookies for saving, and put them in the folder for my web browser's Flash cache even though the game was not an online version and did not play inside a web browser. There was no warning it would do this, so even if you know how to add exceptions to your Flash cookie wiping, you would not know to do it. I would never recommend Machinarium without a warning that that could happen. It's arguably even worse than including an unskippable arcade sequence that some people aren't going to be able to get past.

I watched the ending of Machinarium on YouTube and will probably never play it again. I'm still too disgusted by what happened.

Oh Jenny, that sounds awful! Yes, it would sour me on a game, too, especially if I had managed to get past a tough arcade sequence and was faced with having to battle through it AGAIN. These quirks in Machinarium are a shame, 'cause it was a cute and clever game with an original concept and quite fun, as far as I got. I've only had the experience a couple of times in almost 30 years of playing that something so game-ending arose that I could not finish. Usually, we can find out in advance what a game entails and avoid ones that will not suit us. It is a fact that not every game is going to suit our particular talents. But as for your issue with the Saves, that is simply nuts!