How do you play adventure games?

[StaticSpine]

Just curious.

I always end up with 3rd variant. I have problems with logic or just played too few games of the genre.

 

[Jaesun]

I play and figure it out on my own. Like playing Myst for the first time and figuring out all the puzzles on my own was awesome (I even mapped the ENTIRE rail area, because I missed the F^%$#*% clue on the sounds from another Age. But dammit, I figured it out!). How else would you ever play Adventure games?

 

[Ivan]

I think there should only be 2 options: you either do or you don't.

I don't see the point of not using guides particularly because it breaks the flow of the narrative for me. Sure, the narrative may not be important in more comedic adv games (must fight LeChuck) but in dramatic games it's important that I don't quit a game and forget the plot.

 

[StaticSpine]

I don't see the point of not using guides particularly because it breaks the flow of the narrative for me. Sure, the narrative may not be important in more comedic adv games (must fight LeChuck) but in dramatic games it's important that I don't quit a game and forget the plot.

A good point.

 

[Bumvelcrow]

How else would you ever play Adventure games?

Badly. Despite being a fan of text and the earlier graphical games I was never very good at them. I think if I had to rely on my own brainpower I'd never have completed a single one. So I do what OP says, persevere until it's either a case of cheat or quit, by which point I usually just want to get to the end.

Notable exceptions are where I know there's an interesting plot up ahead or it's some legendary game I can't possibly cheat on. In many of these cases I just never finish them. I don't think I'm a very good adventure game player.

 

[CryptRat]

I don't see the point of not using guides particularly because it breaks the flow of the narrative for me.

You can "play" walking simulators if you think that gameplay breaks the flow of games. Dying or being stuck for a while are part of the fun in video games.

 

[taxalot]

I never had any issue with cheating in games, as long as it's not multiplayer. It's on your own terms. Some people shun it, saying it makes the game worthless, but the game is even more worthless if you can't get past a difficult halfway through the game and have to put it back on the shelf.

Games are art, I believe, but most of gameplay is still entertainment and fun. It's not ruining everything to look for help for a puzzle. This goes true for adventure games and just any kind of games. I used to play my action games with a cheat mode on all the time. I blasted through Doom for years this way. I raised my stats in RPGs if for whatever reason I couldn't get past a battle or just felt like feeling like a god. Don't tell me it was the wrong way to play it.

This is why I frown at games that don't let you change or adjust the difficulty on the fly. Days when I'm feeling competitive ? Crank the difficulty to 11 ! Days when I'm just tired and just want to make some progress, explore, and kill stuff ? Allow me to switch the game to easy, thanks. Oh, you mean I can't, and I've started the game on hard, and now I'm not allowed to know the rest of the story because of an unfair difficulty spike ? Fuck you, next game.

 

[V_K]

I remember when I first played Discworld 2 back in late 1990-s, and didn't have any internet access, I got stuck at a certain puzzle for about a month, finally giving up and uninstalling the game.
A year later I reinstalled it, and this time breezed through that point, bemused by how I hadn't been able to see the fairly obvious solution the first time around. And then I got stuck again, near the very end. It took me a few more years and a guide to learn that I needed to talk to a certain NPC that had a random, and not very high at that, chance of appearing at a certain location every time I visited it - and finally finish the game.
These days I just don't have that kind of time or patience. So if I can't solve a puzzle for more than 2-3 hours - it's guide time. Usually it turns out that I was thinking in the right direction, but forgot to do that one little arbitrary thing that change the logic of the solution but was deemed necessary by the designer.

 

[hello friend]

When I play adventure games I usually use a keyboard and mouse and a personal computer

 

[Ivan]

Dying or being stuck for a while are part of the fun in video games.

You can't say that objectively.

 

[Explorerbc]

My first adventure game was Amerzone when I was a kid . I still remember most of the solutions, because I felt like a genius finding them out, as well as the despair when I got stuck somewhere.

Once I found out about walkthroughs it was over though. In fact, as I've said in another post, their excessive use killed my interest in adventure games, it took me some years before I started playing them again the proper way.

Adventures are always better when you solve them on your own but even now I still can't help it. I start a game promising I won't fall into the temptation, but once I am stuck I start to get bored and convince myself there might be some bug or the riddle might be retarded and unfair. And then once I read the easy solution to the puzzle, the magic is gone.

 

[Jaesun]

I remember when I first played Discworld 2 back in late 1990-s, and didn't have any internet access, I got stuck at a certain puzzle for about a month, finally giving up and uninstalling the game.
A year later I reinstalled it, and this time breezed through that point, bemused by how I hadn't been able to see the fairly obvious solution the first time around. And then I got stuck again, near the very end. It took me a few more years and a guide to learn that I needed to talk to a certain NPC that had a random, and not very high at that, chance of appearing at a certain location every time I visited it - and finally finish the game.
These days I just don't have that kind of time or patience. So if I can't solve a puzzle for more than 2-3 hours - it's guide time. Usually it turns out that I was thinking in the right direction, but forgot to do that one little arbitrary thing that change the logic of the solution but was deemed necessary by the designer.

You haven't played any of the OLD classic Sierra games then?

 

[A user named cat]

There have been far, far too many inane puzzles in adventure games to even try to claim walkthroughs aren't needed. There's no fun to be had in relying on them but I always end up needing one from time to time. Longest Journey, Grim Fandago, Zork and most text adventures, the deadends in King's Quest games, the winter cabin puzzle in Darkness Within 2, the fucking caves in Legend of Kyrandia! Always something comes along that makes you bang your head into the wall and minimize so you can run to gamefaqs.

 

[V_K]

You haven't played any of the OLD classic Sierra games then?

Nope. Most of my foray into old games happened at a time when my English wasn't good enough for parser.

 

[A user named cat]

You haven't played any of the OLD classic Sierra games then?

Nope. Most of my foray into old games happened at a time when my English wasn't good enough for parser.

http://sarien.net/kingsquest#eastcastle

https://archive.org/details/msdos_Leisure_Suit_Larry_1_-_Land_of_the_Lounge_Lizards_1987

 

[taxalot]

It's not like adventure games were alike to any kind of intelligence test. It's just about trying to guess whatever the hell were those guys thinking back when they made it, hoping it's not a bug that's making you stuck, wondering why you're not just reading a book instead of circling your inventory and revisiting all previous screens.

When it stops being fun, all's fair. I'm spending all my IRL life overcoming difficulties and trying to be the best at what I have to do. Looking for validation of in arbitrary video games at this point is about as futile as it can get.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I play and figure it out on my own. How else would you ever play Adventure games?

 

[agentorange]

It's not like adventure games were alike to any kind of intelligence test. It's just about trying to guess whatever the hell were those guys thinking back when they made it, hoping it's not a bug that's making you stuck, wondering why you're not just reading a book instead of circling your inventory and revisiting all previous screens.

When it stops being fun, all's fair. I'm spending all my IRL life overcoming difficulties and trying to be the best at what I have to do. Looking for validation of in arbitrary video games at this point is about as futile as it can get.

pretty much this. however in games like Myst or REM that are exclusively about the puzzles, I won't use a guide.

 

[Siveon]

I'm with taxalot and V_K on this one. Though, we had a similar topic like this on the Adventure board, and I mentioned that I like to use this system specifically geared toward older adventure games. I wish there was a more modern/updated version of this because it has just what I want, with no bullshit completionist stuff in it like most FAQs do. Best I can do nowadays is find a no-spoiler guide.

At the end of the day, it's really what you make of it. Self-gratification, enjoying the narrative, whatever man. It's your free time.

 

[RuySan]

If I get stuck too much time I leave the game. Most of the time I can figure it out while doing a break. Sometimes while running or cooking, or waiting for the subway.

If I get stuck to much time, then it's walkthrough time, but it rarely happens with modern games

 

[Zombra]

When stuck:

1) Put down the game.
2) Come back tomorrow. Things look different now, were you able to solve it?
2a) Yes, stop here and return to playing.
2b) No, proceed to step 3.
3) Don't give up yet. Really apply yourself. Did you figure it out?
3a) Yes, stop here and return to playing.
3b) No, proceed to step 4.
4) Get annoyed. Time for adventure game bullshit mode. Pixel hunt every area. Try combining every item everywhere with every other item anywhere. Brute force every possibility no matter how stupid. Feel like an asshole.
5) Did a bullshit "solution" work?
5a) Yes. Proceed to step 6.
5b) No. Proceed to step 7.
6) A bullshit solution worked. You:
6a) See how the solution makes sense. Feel guilty about being annoyed earlier. Stop here and return to playing.
6b) Are pissed off because the solution is fucking bullshit. Proceed to step 9.
7) Not even a bullshit solution worked. How pissed off are you?
7a) You still feel good about the game and want to give it another chance. Return to step 1.
7b) You have pretty much had it. Proceed to step 8.
8) Hell with it. Consult a walkthrough to find the solution. You:
8a) See how the solution makes sense. Feel extremely dumb. Stop here and return to playing.
8b) Are pissed off because the solution is fucking bullshit. Proceed to step 9.
9) Do you still like the game enough to give it another chance?
9a) You guess so. Resume playing, with a due sense of emptiness.
9b) Not really. Proceed to step 10.
10) Fuck this game.