Is your first adventure game your favorite game now?

I've often wondered if Riven is my favorite game because it was my first game. That goes for my preferring 1st person games over 3rd person games. Do you think your first game reflects on your preference now?

~Dee

My first was Phantasmagoria II and my fave is Sanitarium. Altho I really loved Phantasmagoria at the time, I think if I played it now I would feel differently. ( older and wiser ya know)

Mystery of Arkham was the first adventure game I experienced, on a SpectrumZX back in 1986. It isn't my favourite adventure, but it certainly influenced what I like about the genre, and what I enjoy producing.

I did a quick search to see if there were any pics or info online, and came across the actual game, playable online! I'd forgotten what it was like! How things have changed.

The Mystery of Arkham Manor

Hi Dee. I know what you mean. It's the same with music... if a song is re-made, you always prefer the original... I guess it gets in your heart.

So, is the same true for games? In my case my first PC game was Myst (side note: my first PC game could arguably be "Pong" from the old Apple IIe or the Commodore 64 days, or it could be Pac Man from the arcade games). And, yet my favorite game all-time is Riven also.

But, I do think that the Myst 'style' reflects my preference. Exploration of rich graphics and beautiful sound. Riven just improved upon it. So, it might be said that you fall for the style of your first game.

Let's see what others say.

Dadguy

Hmm...Sanitarium was my first. I think it does reflect on what I want in an adventure...a great and involving storyline, detailed graphics, great cutscenes for a reward, etc. It's not my ALL time fave though, BUT...THAT position is presently up for grabs. It used to be held by Myst III Exile until I recently played it again. It was still super good, but not as inspiring as the first time I played it. I think my all time fave will probably end up being a third person perspective game. Most of my top ten fall into that category. I'm thinking that one of the new games coming out will be my new "love of my life." Time will tell! The waters have been muddied a bit by my playing so many console games now. My computer is only a 366 Celeron, so...I'm limited on what I can play on it and may end up missing out on what COULD be my life's love of adventure games, but I hope not. I have high hopes for Dark Fall 2, Syberia 2, Jack the Ripper, The Black Mirror, TLJ 2, Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon (if I can play it on my machine), and some of the other new games on the horizon.

My first game was "The Adventure of the Colassal Caves" played on an IBM PC jr. But it isn't my favorite.
I would have to say that Dark Fall still is my favorite and most memoralbe game.
Inferno

First text Adventures I got into were the Scott Adams games. First graphic Adventures I got into were the Monkey Island games.

My tastes have changed since then. I have a little more stamina and experience so Riven and Myst were whole new experiences the second time I tried them.

My favourite Adventure game (to date) hovers between "Atlantis 2" and "Legacy of Time".

Good topic Dee!

Hi all,
For me, the first game will always have a special place in my heart.

As for absolute favorite, I'm not sure anymore. I love Myst, but I also love Syberia, and I like a lot more games!

Yes, My first adv. game was TLJ and its still my favorite, but I tell ya what, Syberia and Sanitarium are a close second and third.

no. my first adventure games were the scott adams text adventures, and i do enjoy them now for the nostalgia but i wouldn't call them my favorites.

my first graphic adventure was leisure suit larry 1 (followed by king's quest 1) -- and i do thing this influenced me, because i went on to become a die hard Sierra fan. i'll always prefer 3rd person to 1st and i don't miss the text parsers, but i like point-and-click games like the ones sierra went on to pioneer.

-emily

My first adventure that I can remember (I had a C64 before and a PCjr with a lot of crappy games) but on the real PC it was Kings Quest 1. That is not my favorite but I agree with the sentiment that it affects your favorite type of game, I know I like 2D third person games the best, although I do enjoy the characters being 3D but the backgrounds can be way more beautiful if they are pre-rendered. Syberia is my current fav, also TLJ.

Thanks Inferno, high praise indeed!!

I'd have to say the game that got me hooked on adventure games is the old text based game "Deadline" from Infocom. I love a mystery and a big house to search. Even though this was a text game, you had visions of what the characters looked like while playing. I can still see the gardner McNab and his rose garden. I always wished they would bring this one back updated with video. I guess my two favorites right now would be A Quiet Weekend In Capri and Syberia.

My first game was Myst.
It is still among my favorites.

I used to say my favorites were TLJ and Grim Fandango. 3rd person games seem to be the best for telling a story.

But it really depends on my mood. Sometimes I just want to play something where I can snoop around and figure things out myself - without having to interact with other characters at all. And the so-called "lonely" first person games (like Myst) are best for that.

the first adventure game i played was the ancient Tex murphy game Mean Streets and to this day the tex murphy series is my favorite adventure series but not my favorite game. that honor goes to The Longest Journey.

the tex games are very big with plot and character interaction despite the fact they are first person games. to this day character oriented and games with plot are my favorites which essentially means 3rd person games as almost every first person game is a myst clone--lonely game with still screens and no character interaction and barely any plot.

i sometimes wonder if i my first adventure game played was myst would i even still be playing adventure games today as the first impression is so important.

My first game was Riven, and it is still my favorite game and type of gameplay.

My first games were the Kings Quest Series.
The Laura Bow games.

In answer to the original question, no my first game is not my overall favorite. There have so many advances in the gaming industry since my first exposure to adventure gaming that I would have to opt for newer and more advanced graphics, controls and sound. However, I still remember fondly my first adventure game, Kings Quest 2, and it started me on the road to adventure gaming. I have all the Sierra On Line originals, (although not the original disks but CD archived copies) and keep them out of nostalgia for the "good old days" in gaming. TLJ and Syberia and Runaway kind of brought that back with the modern improvements available and have recaptured me.

Anyway back to the question, Gabriel Knight 2 would be my favorite FMV, TLJ my favorite 3d person, and Tex Murphy Pandora Directive as my favorite 1st Person adventure. Since we're talking adventure gaming, I won't mention Morrowind that kept me up nights and is the most replayable. (oops, I guess I just did)

Myst,Riven still the best,but no one mentioned the Zork series,why?

My first love is the Myst series, I still go back somethimes and poke around in those games and find them pleasant like old friends.

Yes, I do think it might have something to do with it. My first was Shivers and it remains my all time favorite, for a long time after Shivers I compared every game to that and disliked Shivers II because I was expecting an extension of Shivers I. I also love the voice that greets you in Shivers...I just love that game. :kiss:

Karen

My first game was "Legacy of Time."It is still my all time favorite. Even all the years after it was made I still use it as the standard for what makes a great adventure game.

My first adventure game was Zork Nemesis. To me, it's like a favorite old robe.......no matter how many new ones I get, I've never found one that gave me that same feeling of comfort and familiarity.

I have played so many adventure games since then that I've lost count, but every now and then I still have to go back and replay Nemesis. It definately set the tone for what I look for in a game - for me, none have quite measured up. I think that has a lot to do with sentimentality, though. That, and the fact that it was the beginning of a whole world that I never knew existed. Once I knew that world existed, just a speck of that wonder seemed to be forever lost when starting a new game.

(........but it's sure been a blast finding and playing all the new ones!)

the zork games were my "bridge" between the scott adams games and the King's Quest games. i enjoy messing around with them sometimes, but i was never very good at them. too much to read -- not enough patience!

MTV had only just been introduced (and we didn't even have cable at my house!) but i think the seeds of the "short attention span generation" had already been planted...

emily

Hi,

My very first Adventure game was Titanic Adventure Out of Time. I was engrossed in it, taking notes, etc. Then my friend PuzzleWoman and I went to the Titanic Exhibit together. I told her I had this great Adventure game and bought the hint guide. I was able to finish the game and told PW that she had to try it. She played it and we both have been BAAGer's ever since.

It really is one of my favorite games because I knew nothing about Adventure games until this and I had to try to do everything myself because I was not on-line yet. The story was great too, and I felt I knew the whole ship by the time I was finished.

Yep, and then with more games and being on-line I found GameBoomers !

Which got me to buy more games and more and more....

Cindi

My first adventure game was Myst and although it got me hooked on gaming and I enjoyed it, it is not my favorite game today. It's too lonely for me now. I like interacting with people in a game and if it's funny, so much the better.

I bought Myst & Riven, and was given 7th Guest& Shivers all at the same time, so 1st person was all I knew at first. Then came the Broken Swords, Sanitarium, & Kyrandia 2 hand of fate, and I realized I was captivated by all of them. But I have five games as # 1, depending on my mood,
Riven,/Myst/Exile
J.Man 3-Legacy of Time,
Zork Nemesis
TimeLapse
Zork Grand Inquisitor

An interesting thread. It started me wondering how my older games stood up compared with the technically superior new games. I checked my Favorites List. The first 20 with, in parentheses, the order of playing the games are:

ADVPUZLOV COMPLETED GAMES

(Roughly in order of preference) [As of 030914]

01 BLACK DAHLIA (027)
02 SCHIZM (043)
03 MYST II – Riven (005)
04 (MYST III – EXILE) (000)***
05 BYZANTINE (024)
06 SHIVERS I (002)
07 TIMELAPSE (008)
08 LONGEST JOURNEY, The (039)
09 FAUST (029)
10 RAMA (032)
11 OBSIDIAN (021)
12 ZORK NEMESIS (018)
13 LEGEND Prophet&Assassin (048)
14 BLACKSTONE CHRONICLES (011)
15 CYDONIA (LIGHTBRINGER) (013)
16 REAH (015)
17 MYST I (001)
18 LIGHTHOUSE (036)
19 SANITARIUM (016)
20 ATLANTIS II (038)

This is out of a total of 56 games that I have completed. NOTE: *** is because I have not yet finished MYST EXILE, but I am sure that it will be in the top half dozen.

Anyway, note the large number of early games which are still up there. They stand up pretty well. I imagine it will take a number of years before SHIVERS and RIVEN drop out of the top ten.

I definitely prefer first person games since I feel they are more immersive. I am the one who is seeing what's going on. I am not pushing some character on the screen around.

I played Myst first, then Sherlock Holmes: Serrated Scalpel and Kings Quest VII (Princeless Bride). My favorite now is Real Myst.

I like both first person and third person perspectives, maybe because I played them both early on.

The First Adventure game I ever played was Amber Journeys Beyond and I must say it is still my Favorite. Myst was the second game I played and it is also a Favorite.!

Kelly

We had just got our first computer back in 1995 and a friend lent me Lost Eden. Not my favourite but enough to get me hooked.

My first adventure game was Normality and I've been hooked ever since. My favourite games are all the Monkey Island games and TLJ.

Yesssssssssss... 1st game and my fave= Grim Fandango! Can't say this theory applies to girlfriends though!

My first games were the Zork text based adventures. Loved them! I think Zork Nemesis was my first game with graphics and sound. It's definitely still one of my favorites, but I have too many to pick just one.

Interesting. It would appear that in a great number of these posts, the first game played remains the favorite. This is the case with me, too. Myst was my first and RealMyst is my #1 favorite. I still tend to like 1st person, lonely type games. I LOVED Dark Fall.

Hi

My first game was Monkey Island - immediately followed by Monkey Island II

However, although I frequently re-play both, I have to say my favourite game is Gabriel Knight Sins of the Fathers

Cheers.

Mad

My first adventure game was Under A Killing Moon and to date it remains my favorite.

I think a lot of "first game/true love" depends on the equipment one used to play the first game.

My first adventure game, KQ1, was played on 5.25 disks on an 8088 machine. I loved the experience, and have been playing adventures ever since, but looking back, YUCK!

The first game I ever played on an "advanced machine", i.e., a 386, Freddy Pharkus, remains one of my favorites. The first game I played off a CD, i.e., Shivers, remains one of my all-time favorites. One of the first multi-CD games I played on a P2 machine was Black Dahlia, which I adored.

Perhaps the best question is what game did you most enjoy on the machine you had at the time.

Tim

First game I played: The 7th Guest
Favourite game thus far: Morpheus

Caveat: I know there's much better out there, I just haven't played it yet.

Aside: Advpuzlov, you are so anal! I absolutely love your list, with the additional detail of the order in which you played it. I must really incorporate that into my system, dunno why it never occurred to me. Thx

My first adventure game, Amerzone, like the first love of my life will always hold a special place in my heart. :kiss:

Hi gang!

Well, MacDeedle knows my favorite game as it is the same as hers....goooooo RIVEN! LOL

My husband won a little 166Mhz SONY back in the "olden days" (1996). A few weeks later I was tooling around Costco, while he was shopping for the real stuff. I came across the software table and the Riven game box! Seven years later, I've collected and played literally hundreds of games. Riven is still number one!

Love, Witchen