The Grand List of Adventure Game Cliches

arj0n · Sat 17/09/2011 00:47:11

Quote from: Grim on Fri 16/09/2011 15:29:56
I got one word: CROWBAR. 8)

+1

Igor Hardy · Sat 17/09/2011 01:44:25

Monkey Island like anachronisms in the majority of comedy adventures.

blueskirt · Sat 17/09/2011 01:45:25

Severed body parts and fingerprint/DNA scanners

Ponch · Sat 17/09/2011 02:08:21

Quote from: gameboy on Fri 16/09/2011 17:00:50
Things hidden under floorboards or carpets. Or behind paintings or posters.

But that's where I keep all my stuff! Where do you store your socks and pencils and spare change? In drawers? Closets? What if you're robbed? They'll clean you out in seconds, without having to solve any puzzles at all. If I could only find a way to make the lock to my house a sliding tile puzzle, I'd be set! 8)

Quote from: blueskirt on Sat 17/09/2011 01:45:25
Severed body parts and fingerprint/DNA scanners

So that doesn't work in real life? Wait, what am I saying? Of course you'd know. You're a doctor!

Grim · Sat 17/09/2011 03:44:34

Quote from: Ascovel on Fri 16/09/2011 17:02:22
Quote from: Babar on Fri 16/09/2011 16:54:00
You know, I can't think of a single mainstream adventure game that ever used the newspaper under the door thing...perhaps I haven't played enough

off the top of my head:

Alone in the Dark 2
Back to the Future
The Whispered World

How about... Downfall?...

I'll go and sit in the corner now, shall I?...

Dualnames · Sat 17/09/2011 07:25:38

Downfall is about a guy that mixed smoking with drugs and gave some to his wife. And then they got caught by some douche.

Adventure game cliches - Escape THIS ROOM. Done SOOOOOOOOOOOOO many times, it's almost a wonder i loved Technobabylon !!

Igor Hardy · Sat 17/09/2011 17:16:22

Quote from: Grim on Sat 17/09/2011 03:44:34
How about... Downfall?... I'll go and sit in the corner now, shall I?...

Downfall is excused because of not being mainstream.

Same goes for Scratches.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Sun 18/09/2011 00:59:19

I'd be more curious to play the most cliched adventure game ever. You know, the one that recycles puzzles everyone else has done before and better. Someone should make such a game, called Cliche Quest. We could even make a contest of it.

LET IT BEGIN.

Grim · Sun 18/09/2011 03:01:13

Quote from: ProgZmax on Sun 18/09/2011 00:59:19
I'd be more curious to play the most cliched adventure game ever. You know, the one that recycles puzzles everyone else has done before and better. Someone should make such a game, called Cliche Quest. We could even make a contest of it.

OR- it could be SWARM's second project?... I know the Draculator II isn't even finished yet, and maybe the Swarm will never make more games... but it seems like something we should make using all our combined experience... Well it's just an idea, anyway.

Wait, I just thought of another cliche!

----> finding crowbars on meteors in space...

Snarky · Sun 18/09/2011 09:05:20

Quote from: ProgZmax on Sun 18/09/2011 00:59:19
I'd be more curious to play the most cliched adventure game ever. You know, the one that recycles puzzles everyone else has done before and better. Someone should make such a game, called Cliche Quest. We could even make a contest of it.

LET IT BEGIN.

You wake up on a pirate ship with no memory of who you are or how you got there...

Babar · Sun 18/09/2011 10:08:54

...where the only thing on the table is an old newspaper and a quill pen. The door is locked...

Igor Hardy · Sun 18/09/2011 10:29:03

When you open the newspaper, a crowbar falls out. You try to use it on the door, but it turns into a talking red herring and slips out of your hands...

Radiant · Sun 18/09/2011 12:43:54

...the talking red herring informs you that you have to save the kidnapped princess...

Dualnames · Sun 18/09/2011 13:36:17

But the princess is in another castle.

Turtiathan · Sun 18/09/2011 16:14:13

You loot people's homes without getting into trouble. I think this is more common in RPG games though. Then again, RPGs are pretty much adventure games that involve violence.

PatientRock · Sun 18/09/2011 16:21:30

The player must pick up a stick at some point. Great for poking things. Also can be turned into a fishing rod with a bit of string.

Tabata · Sun 18/09/2011 16:36:55

Quote from: PatientRock on Sun 18/09/2011 16:21:30
The player must pick up a stick at some point. Great for poking things. Also can be turned into a fishing rod with a bit of string.

... and of course a magnet is needed

pmartin · Sun 18/09/2011 19:45:20

I think one of the greatest cliches is the relationship between the main character and the NPCs. In adventure games it's always like this:

>The char is in a somewhat strange place, nobody knows him.

>Most of the people don't actually like him.

>He's somehow inferior to the people around him.
( Not a pirate yet, American in france, not a hero yet...)

> He needs to prove himself to the people around him.

Radiant · Sun 18/09/2011 20:00:53

Quote from: pmartin on Sun 18/09/2011 19:45:20
> He needs to prove himself to the people around him.

And he never gets treated any better until the endgame movie, even if he's spent the previous two-three games saving those very people that don't like him.

LimpingFish · Sun 18/09/2011 20:25:21

Puzzles.