7 ms·
Interesting thing about life in the 90s without internet is that we were able to consume something without being part of any larger culture around it. I loved
by soneca 7y ago
Interesting thing about life in the 90s without internet is that we were able to consume something without being part of any larger culture around it.
I loved and played a lot of adventure games. All LucasArts' and a few others. I never even heard of this cultural trace of adventure gamers thinking of themselves as more clever and looking down to action games players.
For me it just something easier to play because it didn't depend on reflex or accuracy (I was never good those types of games) and I liked the story. I am the type who loves cutscenes up to today. In any game.
- the_af 7y agoI learned about this phenomenon (looking down I mean) from the forums of Home of the Underdogs, which gathered people from all over the world. This was 2004 I believe. But also from magazines we got from Spain. For some reason adventure and text adventures were really big in Spain, and along with it the notion (in their subcommunities) that action games were for the "dumber" crowd. It wasn't a vicious sentiment, like you would have nowadays, just a feeling of superiority from adventure gamers. They also reacted fiercely when game designers started introducing action gameplay in adventure games, creating action/adventure hybrids. The feeling was that they were "dumbing down" adventure games. Which, if you read the Old Man Murray article, is of course a hilarious notion. I loved adventure games too! As I said, I cut my teeth with the original (and punishing) Space Quest series, and to this day I have fond memories of it. I also learned quite a bit of English from the series :)
- soneca 7y agoMe too, I learned a lot of English. I would play Monkey Island and Indiana Jones with a dictionary on the side. I remember taking hours in one of the first King Quests, that used typed text input, that the right verb was to "pick-up' a cup. Not take, not get, which were the only ones I knew at the time for picking up things.
- indigochill 7y agoEspecially confusing since "get" to my knowledge has been the conventional keyword used for this action in the vast majority of parser games and MUDs (maybe "take" in some cases, but "pick-up"? Really?). I'm a native English-speaker and that still probably would have stumped me for a while.
- galonk 7y agoSince "pick up" should not be hyphenated, as a native English speaker I don't think I would have ever guessed it!
- soneca 7y agoThat's probably on me though, not the original game. Let's keep in mind that this is a memory from ~30 years ago, so not that reliable in general
- the_af 7y agoBack then, when there was no internet (or it wasn't widespread), Sierra On-Line games were vicious. Not only the wrong action meant instea-death, hope-you-have-a-savegame, but they were also sometimes impenetrable in an age where there weren't internet forums to ask for help. (There were hint books you had to buy, which in my mind were a scam). For example, in Space Quest 2 there was a puzzle where some strange creatures tell you that in order for them to open a passage, you just had to "say the word". Keep in mind I was just learning English back then. The answer was you had to literally type "the word".
- swiftcoder 7y agoAh, the old "Speak, friend, and enter" of Tolkien fame.
- ip26 7y agoThat isolation really contributed to a sense of wonder & discovery for me. The growth of game guides and later the internet pulled back the curtain, so to speak. Not all bad of course. The dev console in Oblivion both broke me of my video game habits & got me interested in programming.
- blaser-waffle 7y agoThe console is still a must-have part of most Bethesda games. Was just playing Fallout 4 last night, no mods, and things bugged out bad enough to run to the console...
- el_benhameen 7y agoMan, LucasArts' 90's games were the best! I have vivid memories of feeling totally immersed in Monkey Island and Loom in particular. Do you have any recent favorites with a similar feel?
- lentil_soup 7y agoI really enjoyed "Thimbleweed Park" also by Ron Gilbert. It came out a couple of years ago, the look and feel is just like the old ones, the humour as well. I was completely immersed.
- the_af 7y agoAbout a decade ago or so, there was a spate of fan-made games using the free Adventure Game Studio. I recall fondly Yahtzee's "7 Days a Stranger", which sparked some sequels. A horror game with the look of a LucasArts game and some experimental gameplay.