I think you're thinking of the early 80s. Certainly Prince of Persia, Another World (Out of this World in the US) or any of the other mid to late 80s games that

I think you're thinking of the early 80s. Certainly Prince of Persia, Another World (Out of this World in the US) or any of the other mid to late 80s games that came along don't really gel with your comment. The issue of gameplay versus slick graphics dominated the early to mid 90s when FMV started to appear. It took a long time for game developers to create the modern interactive narrative and it still gets screwed up today. I do respectfully disagree with your comment about the games being crap by today's standard and also your point on interactive fiction and narration, Classic games such as Lords of Midnight, Contact Sam Cruise and Maniac Mansion provided both narrative and visual representation and experience.