Adventure Game Influences in Surprising Places

Umbrella Terms · Mon 21/08/2017 08:01:01

I recently was playing through Resident Evil REmake and never realized how much inspiration it took from point n' click adventure games. Rather than surviving attacks from zombies, you spend most of the game solving item-based puzzles to access more areas of the mansion, which leads to more puzzles. Unfortunately, it uses these mechanics poorly, which I explain more in-depth in a video I made:

But it got me thinking: what games have you played that took surprising amounts of inspiration from adventure games(whether it's mechanics, design, etc.) for better or for worse?

Mandle · Mon 21/08/2017 10:36:12

Well, it's not a game, but I'll mention the obvious one that the original Pirates Of The Carribean was obviously ripped off mostly from The Secret Of Monkey Island.

In fact, I have heard rumours that it was rewritten from a script for a Monkey Island movie that never made which Lucasfilms wrote, but sold to Disney (long before selling Star Wars to them)...

Danvzare · Mon 21/08/2017 12:18:59

Quote from: Mandle on Mon 21/08/2017 10:36:12
Well, it's not a game, but I'll mention the obvious one that the original Pirates Of The Carribean was obviously ripped off mostly from The Secret Of Monkey Island.

In fact, I have heard rumours that it was rewritten from a script for a Monkey Island movie that never made which Lucasfilms wrote, but sold to Disney (long before selling Star Wars to them)...

From what I've heard (although I'm not sure this is true), the writer of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie, was also the writer for that cancelled Monkey Island movie.

Gilbert · Mon 21/08/2017 15:15:40

The Bioharzard games aren't really surprising to be inspired by point'n click adventure games though, as they're just ripoffs of the Alone in the Dark games, which were coined as adventure games more often than the later invented genre survival horror.

Mandle · Mon 21/08/2017 15:53:12

Quote from: Gilbert on Mon 21/08/2017 15:15:40
The Bioharzard games aren't really surprising to be inspired by point'n click adventure games though, as they're just ripoffs of the Alone in the Dark games, which were coined as adventure games more often than the later invented genre survival horror.

Good point! I remember having a lot of fun with resource management in the Alone In The Dark games...

Stupot · Mon 21/08/2017 16:37:27

I've always thought of Resi Evil (especially the first few) as basically adventure games with shooting. Although if you take away the shooting you're left with a pretty crap adventure game. Way too many keys.

Mandle · Mon 21/08/2017 17:37:20

Quote from: Stupot+ on Mon 21/08/2017 16:37:27
I've always thought of Resi Evil (especially the first few) as basically adventure games with shooting. Although if you take away the shooting you're left with a pretty crap adventure game. Way too many keys.

So basically the gateway games to the new adventure games for the next generation: Insta-solve puzzles and quest-markers on maps and HUD to get to the next cutscene that tells you what to do next...

HATE IT!!!

Thank god for the indie market these days that actually produce challenging and fresh games instead of the lead-you-by-the-nose crap that permiates the Triple-A games now...

I recently watched the you-tube Mostly Walking series they did of Resonance and...OMG...these guys are working in the current field of game development and they quit the game because:

And take some time to absorb this:

There were too many interactions available in the game world so they couldn't figure out what to do next, because, when they got stumped they couldn't brute force the solution...

They had no idea about following the story and the fact that the game requires you to pay close attention to the plot and chose your next action based on that understanding...

They just expected the usual hold-your-hand throughout the whole story experience, even though they constantly complain about that kind of game...

The Resonance interface requires that you think like a detective following the plot of the game, rather than just think like a gamer trying to get to the next acheivement...

And Mostly Walking couldn't handle that and blamed everything on the game, and even quit playing about 5% from the ending...

These are guys that currently make their living developing games as professionally paid individuals...

GASP!

My blood pressure is rising so I should probably stop this rant here but needed to let it out somewhere so... sorry...

But, yeah.... WTF???

Umbrella Terms · Mon 21/08/2017 19:43:03

Quote from: Gilbert on Mon 21/08/2017 15:15:40
The Bioharzard games aren't really surprising to be inspired by point'n click adventure games though, as they're just ripoffs of the Alone in the Dark games, which were coined as adventure games more often than the later invented genre survival horror.

How could I forget about Alone in the Dark? I feel like those games(at least the first one from my experience) handled the adventure aspects better than Resident Evil. I still remember getting a decent amount through the game at school. Makes me wonder if we can ever get an adventure game in that style that can have good puzzles as well as mix with the action horror aspects of the game.