Old school adventure gamer looking to get back into it with AGS games

[Dissolve]

Hello all,

        In my teens, I was absolutely addicted to adventure games. I played through many of the classics - the first two Gabriel Knights, Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle, Maniac Mansion, first 3 Monkey Islands, first two Broken Swords.. etc. Unforunately, as time grew on, my interest in music and film claimed more and more of my time until I stopped gaming entirely.
         Last week I was in a traffic accident, fracturing my hand in many places and leaving me with an assortment of cuts and bruises. Since I will be recovering from my surgery for the next five weeks and have grown tired of staring at a TV screen, I racked my brain for something a bit more mentally engaging. The lightbulb went off. Adventure games! After a bit of poking around on the net, I found many freeware games citing AGS as the engine. That led me to the AGS site, then these forums.
         So, now for the question: what are some quality AGS titles that'll ease me back into the swing of adventure gaming? My sleuthing skills have probably atrophied considerably in my downtime, so a nice, gentle starter would be great. I've always valued a great dialogue and sensible puzzles over impressive graphics and elaborate inventory-combining guesswork, if that helps with recommendations any.
          Thanks in advance, and excuse any confusing passages or typos - I'm typing with one hand and a head full of percoset. 

- E

[Ali]

I say, enjoy the recuperative mystery of Pleurghburg, followed by the recuperative wit of Jessica Plunkenstein.

For a more graphically snazzy convalescence, Apprentice and Apprentice 2 should be just what the doctor ordered.

[Layabout]

For a similar kind of game to the Gk series, try the Ben Jordan series. For a fun witty game, try spooks, and then play nanobots. Play nelly cootalot. Also, I'd highly recommend playing all of Dave Gilberts games. Oh, you must play ace quest!

[yarooze]

You can try my NecroQuest:  :

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1054

the puzzles are not very hard, so you can easy walk it through. 

[TwinMoon]

I'd suggest Charlie Foxtrot and the Galaxy of Tomorrow. It's scifi and a lot of fun!

[Makeout Patrol]

I'd suggest Charlie Foxtrot and the Galaxy of Tomorrow. It's scifi and a lot of fun!

I'll actually second this - Charlie Foxtrot is a great game, especially for anybody new to (or returning to) adventure games.

[Harry]

As someone who is in basically the same place, (old-school adventure gamer who's looking to get back in) and just having finished both 'Nelly Cootalot' and 'Apprentice 1 Deluxe', I can recommend both of those as being perfect games to start out on. They are both gorgeous, fun, enjoyable games that are bursting with 'Monkey-Island-ness'. You really can't go wrong with either of those. (In fact I enjoyed Nelly Cootalot so much that I finally went through with the quiz to register just so I could recommend it )

[Dissolve]

Thanks for all of your recommendations! Since I've posted last, I've played through the excellent Nelly Cootalot. The charming, homespun art direction, deep feminism of the lead character (which is rare, especially WITH female characters!) and the breezy story helped to make this a definite winner. My only complaint would be is that the puzzles were a little too easy... but it was fun and satisfying to ease myself back into this at this pace, it's certainly a confidence builder running through an adventure in an evening without a walkthrough.

I also gave Ben There, Dan That a shot, but found the puzzles rather simple, and didn't find it as funny as many others did. That's been put on hold for Chalie Foxtrot, which is very charming and hits the LucasArts-style humor spot on.  I gave Apprentice Deluxe a couple of hours and was shocked at the level of professionalism and teriffic characters. I nearly died laughing at the dialogue with the dragon - great stuff.

If you happen to think of any others, let me know! Thanks again.

[arj0n]

Hello all,

        In my teens, I was absolutely addicted to adventure games. I played through many of the classics - the first two Gabriel Knights, Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle, Maniac Mansion, first 3 Monkey Islands, first two Broken Swords.. etc. Unforunately, as time grew on, my interest in music and film claimed more and more of my time until I stopped gaming entirely.
         Last week I was in a traffic accident, fracturing my hand in many places and leaving me with an assortment of cuts and bruises. Since I will be recovering from my surgery for the next five weeks and have grown tired of staring at a TV screen, I racked my brain for something a bit more mentally engaging. The lightbulb went off. Adventure games! After a bit of poking around on the net, I found many freeware games citing AGS as the engine. That led me to the AGS site, then these forums.
         So, now for the question: what are some quality AGS titles that'll ease me back into the swing of adventure gaming? My sleuthing skills have probably atrophied considerably in my downtime, so a nice, gentle starter would be great. I've always valued a great dialogue and sensible puzzles over impressive graphics and elaborate inventory-combining guesswork, if that helps with recommendations any.
          Thanks in advance, and excuse any confusing passages or typos - I'm typing with one hand and a head full of percoset. 

- E

Hai, try "A Pirates Tale" (a Monkey Island 1 style game) and the King's Quest 1, 2 & 3 remakes and Quest for Glory 4 1/2. And try the Ben Jordan serie. These gems will bring you back to the old dayz!!!

[Jamol]

Hi.
Though I´m in my twens I always favored Adventures and still hold a large collection of those classic games.
My first one here was "Duty and Beyond" and it was quite captivating and has really been worthwhile! (although it looks very antiquated: give it a chance to let it spill it's charm on you!).
I don´t know how significant the official ratings are, but I'd suggest you to have a look at
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=digest&sortby=3&sortdir=0&startfrom=0
and try the highest rated ones. Just in case you want to simply pick the cherries... 
But be aware that you'll miss a bunch of great impressions this way!

[arj0n]

Great games:

Quest for Glory 4½ - So You Thought You Were a Hero
Pirates of Monkey Island of the Caribbean
Once Upon A Crime - A Fairytale Whodunnit
King's Quest 1 - Quest for the Crown VGA
King's Quest 2 - Romancing the Stones VGA
King's Quest 3 Remake (great!)
Ben Jordan - Paranormal Investigator Case 1 - In Search of the Skunk-Ape (Deluxe version)
Ben Jordan - Paranormal Investigator Case 2 - The Lost Galleon of the Salton Sea
Ben Jordan - Paranormal Investigator Case 3 - The Sorceress of Smailholm
Ben Jordan - Paranormal Investigator Case 4 - Horror at Number 50
Ben Jordan - Paranormal Investigator Case 5 - Land of the Rising Dead
Ben Jordan - Paranormal Investigator Case 6 - Scourge of the Sea People
Ben Jordan - Paranormal Investigator Case 7 - The Cardinal Sins
(specialy part 7, 4 & 6; in that order)
Charlie Foxtrot & The Galaxy of Tomorrow
All Emmo and the Lost Dutchman Mines
Murder in a Wheel
A Tale of Two Kingdoms
Apprentice 1 & 2
Hero of Infamous Kingdoms
Odottamaton
Lucas Maniac!
Knight's Quest III - Tides of Merania
Knight's Quest IV - Here Today, Gone to Yesterday

Waiting for upcoming games:
Once Upon A Crime II: Gumshoe Odd Ventures (should be released at (01-oct-2008, yes, today)
Indiana Jones - The Fountain of Youth
Indiana Jones and The Crown of Solomon

[SSH]

Today's gratuitous link to  my blog...

Here's the best 5 list of best AGS games:
http://ags-ssh.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-5-ags-top-10s.html

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

If you like comedic type games, you could try:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=633

or if you want something more suited for the Halloween season (which is what I intended it for):

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=646