This may send a few of you packing, but it's a judgement free zone here! Don't be shy!

What "classics" in adventure gaming do you find overrated and why?

Some classics to get you started to ponder over are Monkey Island series, Myst , KIngs Quest, Space Quest, Gabriel Knight, Grim Fandago, Broken Sword etc.! (This does not mean I think these are overrated! They are just examples of "classics"!)

And.....GO!

Ana

I haven't played most of the "classics" having started gaming a bit later but I've purchased most of them. I just don't feel drawn to them though due to pixel graphics, the interface (I guess you'd call it), and it seems like (not saying this is the case just how it seems to ME) a lot of those games had dead ends.

That being said, I either can't answer this question, or I'd say most of them .

The only "classic" games that I can think of offhand that had dead-ends were a few in the King's Quest series and maybe a few others of Sierra's very early games (not Gabriel Knight games, for example). When I know there is a dead-end in a game, I look it up to see exactly when and where it occurs so that I can avoid that kind of frustration (or google in advance to see if a game has any dead-ends).

To answer your question, Ana, I would have to say that were I to mention specific game titles that seem "overrated" to me, it is not because they are overrated per se but rather the puzzles and such don't suit me the way that they do for some. A good example of this is the Myst series. I am terrible at mechanical puzzles and these games have a lot of them so they don't hold all that much interest for me. Of the other classic titles that you mentioned, I don't think any of them are overrated.

I will think about it some more and see if I can come up with anything else.

Marian, I think there were a couple that I did try that had some dead ends. There was a dead end in one of the Atlantis games that I spent hours trying to figure out how to proceed only to look at a walkthrough and find out I missed picking something up and couldn't go back (except through a save game - thank you manual saves!). Fortunately, I couldn't go play a bunch of other parts of the game before figuring that out.

Zak McKracken is one that I was liking until I hit a dead end that I may never have noticed until the end of the game if I hadn't seen it in a walkthrough or on the UHS Hints. I planned (but still haven't) to go back and start the game over and play using a walthrough or UHS Hints but it is a turn off that keeps me from going back to it. For the heck of it I Googled and came up with this:

what classic adventure games have dead ends in them

Well, it's not linking but that is what I Googled if you want to take a look at it. The AI states "This was especially common in 1980s and 1990s PC games.".

Excellent topic Sheriff, I will have to give this some thought as I am one to really research games and tend to get the ones that interest me before I buy. I do understand exactly what you topic refers to and get back to this thread.

EDIT:
I have come up with this Classic that I think is way overrated and much to the dismay of many of the GB Members here...The Longest Journey.....Ouch...who did that...hey, somebody just slapped me in the back of my head...stop it. For me it was the Longest convoluted bore!

I think that some, if not most, of the Cryo games were overrated. The stories were uninspired, the characters were stiff, and movement was either too slow or too fast and/or choppy.

I can understand why millions loved the Myst games but because so many of the type of puzzles featured in them were not my “thing” I only ever managed to completely finish ONE game, although I did attempt several

Most other games rated as “Classics” I liked (and still like) very much and will continue to re-play as long as they remain playable for me - despite dead ends or whatever else - because they mostly had glorious story lines.

That’s exactly my feelings about the Myst games. But I loved the rollercoaster in Myst III: Exile. I wouldn’t call the games overrated though, since they did what they were supposed to do so well. I don’t have anything against mechanical puzzles as such, but the style and the difficulty level of the Myst games are simply not for me. And that goes for most of the Myst clones as well. Does anybody remember Schizm: Mysterious Journey? I still have nightmares about that one.

Greyfuss, I am 100% on board with you on The Longest Journey! It had its moments, but oh, the constant trudging around drove me nuts!

It’s called The Longest Journey for a reason

flotsam, LOLOLOL!!!

I do remember Schizm Mikael, and was rather impressed. I remember it as being exceptionally hard but logically fair, including the bridge puzzle. Am not sure what my aged brain would think of it now though.
I love mechanical puzzles so my overrated classics were any involving inventory quests where you could gather all manner of items and not advance the game one jot, except for having found something else. You inevitably then found yourself trying everything everywhere to achieve convoluted solves that defied all logic. Bah humbug.
I have mellowed over the years, and appreciate them more now, but a walkthrough is always my best friend.
I also found some games underwhelming depending on when I played them. Myst is a case in point. I had already played Riven and it seemed tame and drab by comparison. Which isn't fair, but I couldn't unplay Riven so it wasn't until RealMyst that I started to feel differently about it.