From: jsvrc@rc.rit.edu (J A Stephen Viggiano)
Subject: Re: The trend in adventure games
Summary: It's not a trend in adventure games, just what they're calling adventure games.
Organization: RIT Research Corp
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 16:08:20 GMT

In article <Wcz-7m#@engin.umich.edu> positron@engin.umich.edu (Jonathan Scott Haas) writes:
>I'm starting this thread to talk about the type of game that seems
>to be the norm today. You know the type... big on graphics, big on
>disk space, short on puzzles, short on executable commands.
>
>The game that, to me, epitomizes the "modern" adventure game is
>Leisure Suit Larry V. I think I can say without fear of contradiction
>that it sucks. First off, it's horribly easy. Of course it is.

I bought my copy of LSL5 (my only venture into Larryland) and SQ4 from a
16-year old son of a collegue. I had just gotten my copy of the
_Lost_Treasures_ I, and tried to talk him into buying a copy. The dialog went
something like this:

Me:	Just think! You get 20 games for the price you paid for LSL5 alone!

Him:	Oh, are they like _Planetfall_?

Me:	Yes! That's one of the games in the collection!

Him:	I've got that one, and I didn't like it. It didn't have any pictures.
	It wasn't in color. It didn't have sound.

Me (realizing that I was fighting a loosing battle): Yes, but they make you
	THINK! You can use your imagination! GOD WILL LOVE YOU MORE IF YOU
	PLAY CHALLENGING, IMAGINATIVE TEXT-ONLY ADVENTURE GAMES!!! :-)

Him:	But they don't have graphics, they don't have color, they don't
	have sound . . . . [Get the idea?] Listen -- how many disks are in
	that _Lost_Treasures_ collection?

Me:	Five.

Him:	Ha! LSL5 has EIGHT (!) and they're high density disks, filled with
	color graphics and sound. The animation . . . .

[At this point I gave up. It was easier to get what I wanted from The Thief
in _Dungeon_.]

Well, I played both games; SQ4 was more of a challenge, and had some
adventure-like features, but, as you said, LSL5 makes a cakewalk look like
a herculean labor. I got stuck precisely once (at the video poker machines),
and was informed that the only way around that chestnut was to "cheat."

To top it all off, the superb built-in digital audio in my Mac IIfx wasn't
good enough for either game. They made a few squawks, and played some music,
but, I was informed, I would need a card from Roland in order to take full
advantage of the digitized sound. The Sierra folks thoughtfully included an
order form in each game, touting a "special price" of a measly $545. Remember
_Castle_Wolfenstein_ on the Apple ][? Didn't need any extra hardware to get
speech out of that game, and in German, no less! (,,Was ist Das?'')

Was this enough? Well, something really got me steamed. The SQ4 game kept
referring to itself as an adventure game, to Roger Wilco (the hero) as an
Adventurer, etc.

Did I enjoy both games? Yes, I did! Will I buy others like them? Yes, I shall!
But, I shall *never* consider them to be adventure games, just entertaining
fluff. That's all they are! And I don't think there's anything wrong with that,
per se. Please, please, PLEASE, just don't call them adventure games!

It's not a trend in adventure games, only a trend in what they're calling
adventure games. The Unkuulian seerees wuz dam guud; runz nyce on an Acme (TM)
Cheezix (TM) kompyuter; and wurthee of the laybell "Advenchoor Gayme" even
bye the moest dye-hard Advenchewoor.
Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction