Before The Sims went on to be the best-selling game of all time, Myst was one of the most popular games in the 90s when games were starting to come up on CD. I had Myst when it first came out, and I wandered around that little island for days, poking/pushing/moving/clicking things but I could not figure out what to do. I found all the parts that I could interact with but for the life of me, I didn't know what to do. It was only until I came across a strategy guide, one of the first I've ever had a chance to read, I was able to finally figure out what I was supposed to do. I had read walkthroughs before for King's Quest games, but they were like "Go here, pick this up."
Myst is a completely different animal. If you've played these games before, you'll know that the puzzles are incredibly complex and involve skills that someone with an engineering degree might have. Trial and error didn't really work here, you'd really have to think about where the water flows, how the electricity is generated... things that I didn't really think about beyond the fact that I used water and electricity every day.
Now, as popular as Myst was, it seemed that after that, the adventure genre just disappeared. Sierra was eventualy bought out, but they had a string of not-so-great games leading up to that.
There are still many adventure games out there, some casual, some more involved, but nothing like how it used to be. People don't seem to be that interested in adventure games anymore, why is that? Did they get too complicated?
What I liked about adventure games was the story. The Sierra games like King's Quest and Police Quest had an engaging story to follow. Monkey Island was great too, especially when you were able to choose the dialogue to determine what would happen. I could spend hours playing these games and trying to figure out what to do next. It didn't seem like the game was too complex, eventually you'd figure it out.
It seemed that after that, games got harder, now, even other genres like RPGs, action games, they all come with strategy guides. Manuals aren't worth reading anymore because the guide is out which could provide you with everything you wanted to know. You could still try to figure the game out on your own to feel that sense of accomplishment, but when games do things like, game perecent completed, it makes you feel like you'd be wasting your time running through the game without figuring out EVERYTHING. So instead, we buy strategy guides, look at walkthroughs to make sure we have the most complete experience.
For adventure games, with a walkthrough, there is really nothing to do anymore except follow instructions. At least with RPGs, you'd still have to level on your own, make your own choices. The fun is gone when you play a game where you know exactly what you need to do without figuring it out on your own with the "aha" lightbulb going off. But without the guide, you'd be stuck. It's a catch 22... do you want to spend the time to figure out it (if ever)? Or do you want to follow a guide to get through the game?
Has the adventure genre lost this balance where it's either one or the other?
