List of adventure games that innovate

[InCreator]

Gobliins wasn't innovative for having multiple characters on screen, it was innovative because a large section of the puzlles were timed, you did this with one goblin while you did that with the other goblin.

Bah.
Goblins series were special because even if you knew the solution to puzzle, you didn't care much: Doing things in wrong way resulted MUCH more fun! I don't recall seeing this anywhere else, atleast not at that entertaining level.

[blueskirt]

You should play MM again because this just isn't true. Each of the six kids you get to select from has one or two unique talents, AND the game has several multiple endings availableÃ,  depending on which kids you pick. You can arrest the meteor, send it back into space, turn it "good" and get it eaten by something hungry. It could stand more dialogue, of course, but some characters do react differently to some parts of the environment.

I already did that long ago when Maniac Mansion Deluxe was released. Tried every ending with every kids in just 2 or 3 days. And down the line, if you exclude the possibilities to fry the hamster (fun but not necessary), repair the phone in the library (not necessary), or that Bernard is scared by the green tentacle, you can do absolutly everything with just one kid up to the point where you need to raid the lab and get rid of the purple tentacle.

It's only at this point that the kids' unique talents are required, to accomplish the several actions that are required to send the cops or Ed in the lab, or give the tentacle a contract. But up to that point, you can easily just pick Dave or anyone else, accomplish every puzzles and collect every objects, and use the other kids just as a third hands to distract Edna and Ed, or push the switch required to open a few doors or empty the pool.

With Gob2, you couldn't pick Winkle, do everything and only use Fingus as third hand for timed puzzles, nor could you pick Fingus and use Winkle as third hand, because they both reacted differently to everything, what you'd fail with Fingus, you'd succeed with Winkle and vice versa, or they'd both fail in a different comical way. I think it's improvement or better designing of the use of X different characters with X different personalities. But then again, I do recognize it's hard to implement such thing when you have to pick 3 out of 7 kids to form a team. There's simply too many possibilities of team combination to give every kids multiple talents and flaws, usable during the entire game, without creating several walking dead. Gob2 would probably have been the same if you had to form a 2 goblins team out of a choice of 6 gobllins. And MM would probably have been like Gob2 if it only involved 3 kids with well defined personalities, abilities and traits.

[TheYak]

 I have to mention *shudder* Myst.  After dodging the first couple of kicks to the crotch region, I have to maintain that it was very innovative as far as puzzles-without-explanation went and free-form exploration (not much guidance from the plot for either).  These might not have been seen as innovations, but it was the first adventure/puzzle game wherein once I'd interpreted what I was supposed to do, it no longer seemed random clickery, and after solving some of them made me fool myself into believing I was a genius (at least compared to the pick-up/use-on/combine everything strategy of a lot of other adventures).  7th guest made you think in order to solve many of the puzzles, but it seemed a collection of shareware-style puzzle games strung together with a poorly-conceived plot. 

[Helm]

These 'puzzle island' games (even when they're not islands, you get what I mean) are very odd for me, because they give you so little to go on that it's not so much that the puzzles break the suspension of disbelief, it's that there's no disbelief to begin with. Very transparent slideshow-puzzle-slideshow-puzzle for me.

[TheYak]

I've got a definite bias due to being enthralled with my first CD-ROM gaming experience, but I found the "story" all the more immersing because of its reliance upon the user's imagination.  The drawn-out narration of the Sierra games and the loads of dialog from LA's both wore on me I guess.

Many of the puzzles I hadn't seen before (mathematical variations, sure, but not in a similar presentation), particularly with their effect upon the environment.  7th Guest, by contrast, seemed all the more transparent with its Hexxagon rip-offs with spiders or ghosts or anagram games using Spooky Vocabulary (TM). By the time Riven rolled around, Myst's formula seemed trite to me though. 

[Rincewind]

I'd say Discworld Noir for it's use of the private investigator-notebook-interface. Each clue you was written down in the notebook which in turn could be discussed with any character in the game and be used on any other clue or hotspot in the game to form conclusions.
(Or just to get funny reactions. Using some of the clues on the mirror in Sapphire's room is hilarious.)
I shan't say that it was the first to use this one, but it certainly was incredibly well done.


Also, it featured an original and well-done "smell inventory"-system, too, which I'm pretty sure hasn't been used neither before nor after it...

[Helm]

I guess in the same way tape recording of conversations, and of course splicing in Gabriel Knight was innovative. A good combination: both something a character may use as a helper, and important for a puzzle later on.

[Radiant]

I already did that long ago when Maniac Mansion Deluxe was released. Tried every ending with every kids in just 2 or 3 days.

Okay, okay, you're right. It would be fun to improve on that idea in some fangame, only it would be an outrageous amount of work.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Rex Nebular for the naughty or nice settings and also for allowing death but not in a punishing way (you see the death and then revive without being insulted and having to reload like in Space Quest).  Was much more fun to play than any Space Quest game as a result.  Also for allowing your character to change from male->female->male to solve different puzzles was neat, if slightly disturbing.  Little Rex, nooo!

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Naughty or nice settings? Didn't "Spellcasting 101" feature that too, and wasn't it an earlier game?

Also, ZZT might have been the first game/editor public adventure program... but I could be wrong. Probably am.

[Ali]

I don't think these have been mentioned ( and I think text adventures ought to be allowed):

Starship Titanic: For spookitalk allowing you to hold reasonably complex conversations with characters through the text parser. Also for it's upgrading your interface as you are moved up from 3rd to 1st class.

Syberia: Having a separate inventory for items and documents. This may not have been the first, but I can't think of another.

Nord And Bert Couldn't Make Head Nor Tail Of It: For it's use of puns/double meanings/homophones and other wordplay to create a world that could be transformed at the typing of a sentence. For instance, you find a Jack-Of-All-Trades and are able to use it as a car-jack, a jack-knife and many other jacks.

Gabriel Knight I-III: Allowing the player occasionally to speak to more than one character at a time. I'm not sure which of the games used this technique, but I suspect that they all may have. This may seem inconsequential, but it broke from the question-answer model that most dialogues follow. It gave a sense that you were really contributing to a dialogue, not just interrogating someone.

Also Gabriel Knight III for it's overarching what's-been-going-on puzzle...

Spoiler

Wherein you have to work out what all the characters have been up to from the observations you've made throughout the game. What distinguishes this from Cluedo and its ilk is that you don't know beforehand that you are going to need to suss everyone out. It relies on the player paying attention and really thinking about the game world.

[close]

These 'puzzle island' games (even when they're not islands, you get what I mean) are very odd for me, because they give you so little to go on that it's not so much that the puzzles break the suspension of disbelief, it's that there's no disbelief to begin with. Very transparent slideshow-puzzle-slideshow-puzzle for me.

I have quite the opposite experience with the best of those type of games, like Myst and Riven. I find the opportunity to scrutinise, explore and investigate a rich location extremely involving. Still, different hats for different cats.

[Radiant]

I have quite the opposite experience with the best of those type of games, like Myst and Riven. I find the opportunity to scrutinise, explore and investigate a rich location extremely involving. Still, different hats for different cats.

I haven't actually played Myst, but Island of Dr. Brain (which I believe Helm referred to) is arguably not an adventure game. I rather liked it anyway, though, but then I play all kinds of puzzles like Supaplex and Chip's.

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Re that last GK3 observation by Ali, I think Laura Bow 2 did that. And maybe Laura Bow 1, if I get your meaning. And I'm sure I've played some text adventures that did that, but dunno if they came BEFORE Laura Bow 1...

[Helm]

I find the opportunity to scrutinise, explore and investigate a rich location extremely involving. Still, different hats for different cats.

That sounds great in theory. In practise, you pull levers and turn dials.

Wasn't talking about Dr. Brain since I haven't played it, Radiant. But I remember that being a collection of puzzle games, right? Myst is a puzzle game disguised as an island.