Ask Slashdot: Best Adventure Game To Start With? 480
canolecaptain writes "One of my daughters (10 years old) has become interested in adventure games, and started playing Fate. It's been awhile since I've had time to play this type of game (since the Diablo 2 days), and I'd like to know what Slashdotters thought would be the best set of adventure games to start her on (PC preferred). Nothing too scary yet, so unfortunately, Diablo is out for the time being. I'd prefer one with multi-player so that we could quest together on ocassion."
Titan's Quest (Score:3, Informative)
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I'd say Zork, but then I'll get chastised for suggesting a text based adventure.
I find reading a big thing missing from adventure & RPG (MMO's especially). People don't want to read when gaming, but that's half the fun of an adventure game. Pick up the subtleties in the cryptic clues.
The original & new Monkey Island series (including the remakes) are great if you want something graphical.
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The original & new Monkey Island series (including the remakes) are great if you want something graphical.
I'd second Monkey Island or anything from the "Quest for Glory" Series. It may be a bit dated as the first Quest for Glory game is over 20 years old, but the puzzles were neat and the humor kept me entertained enough to make up for the poor graphics. I remember one joke was about a comedian who had lost his ability to be funny. He would sit there and screw up the stupidest jokes throughout the game. Finally, at the end, you give him a "Good Humor" ice cream bar to cure him. He still told stupid jokes,
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Perfect! Nothing like precocious highlights on every YASD, and the other questions that might come up are quite fun too.
Daddy why did you fall down the stairs while wielding a chickatrice? Daddy, why did you turn into a lizard before trying to kill the dragon? Daddy, why did that red person get a severe headache after you removed your equipment? Daddy, why are you sacrificing unicorns? Daddy, why is god punishing you?
Of course there's important life lessons that can be taught: "don't talk to strangers
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I also thought of Titan Quest (very good game), but then also thought of the Dungeon Siege Series [wikipedia.org] (you can probably pick up one of the older (first two) titles for next to nix) and it is a pretty good game. It has good support for multiplayer as well. The older two games will play VERY well on a lower spec PC and you can play some great co-op on a lan, while the upcoming title seems to have some VERY nice graphics and if she likes the style of one of the others, you might be in for a nice hit.
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Dungeon siege is such a hack and slog, and the interface is atrocious compared to its competition (Neverwinter Nights.) It does have more cartoony monsters than NWN, but is otherwise a bad attempt to make the same game.
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What about DeathSpank [wikipedia.org]? What better time to introduce the kid to off-colour humour than when (s)he is still young?
Day Of The Tentacle (Score:5, Informative)
Cartoony, Hilarious, and not impossibly difficult. And easy to acquire. A spectacular game all around and you can run it right in scummvm.
Really I recommend all of their games, but I'd suggest that as a best "first" game. Monkey Island 2 is my actual favorite scumm game, but its SUPER hard so not really a good "first" game.
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I dunno, I played all the Lucasarts games for the first time* in the early 2000s, and Loom left me cold. It's a little too "airbrushed on the side of a van," if you know what I mean, and hasn't held up well. I second the recommendation for Day of the Tentacle. Probably the best writing I've seen in a game that has graphics.
*I spent an inordinate amount of time getting absolutely nowhere in Zak McCracken in glorious CGA as a middle schooler, but I'm not sure if that counts.
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You're not old enough to remember it?
Yes, it's a real game. Yes, it's kid-friendly. Also? AWESOME.
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concur
DOTT was great.
So was Sam'n'Max Hit the Road.
Both had plenty of humor and decent puzzles.
Those aren't "Adventure Games" (Score:5, Informative)
The only thing a hack'n'slash has in common with an adventure game is mouseclick-induced carpal tunnel.
NetHack (Score:4, Informative)
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The imagination needed, or rather, willingness to put up with the lack of the great anchor that is known as graphics, might be too much strain for a ten year old. I do agree that NetHack and its companions (other text-based dungeon crawlers) are fantastic games and offer countless of unique experiences, but this is an ASCII dish usually served best to those who have had the opportunity to train themselves a little bit more in the areas of thought, language and patience.
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The imagination needed, or rather, willingness to put up with the lack of the great anchor that is known as graphics
If only there were a version of Nethack that used graphics--oh wait! Nethack has had graphics (optional, but usually on by default) for well over a decade; there's even a 3D isometric version based on GL.
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Comprehending. Try it. Also context.
Re:NetHack (Score:5, Funny)
Mother: So, Sarah, what did you learn in your computer club today?
Little Sarah [6 years old]: Well, Mommy, we played this neat new game
called NetHack and I was an evil wizard who killed a priest with
fireball magic and then sa.. sac.. sacrificed his corpse on an altar
and then came a demon named Yee... Yeeno... Yeenoghu but he was a
friendly demon and didn't hurt my wizard, but these policemen got
angry and I had to kill them too and offer their corpses to my evil
god, and then some more demons came but they were all friendly too,
especially one who was called a suc... suc... it had something to do
with sucking, and she took all my wizard's clothes off but I don't
understand why, but Bobby said that she wanted to make babies with
him and then... Mommy? Mommy? Are you OK?
[Blatantly stolen from this usenet posting [google.com]]
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Spoilers, I guess, but...
One of the most important things to know is to write the name Elbereth on the ground. What ten year-old is going to think to do that? How many ten year-olds would even know the name?
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as i've heard, there are versions of nethack with elbereth compiled out, so it must be possible to win without it.
also, the oracle can tell you about it.
overall, though, i couldn't imagine playing unspoiled nethack. but there is at least one ascender who claims to have done it...
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Wanna win nethack? Read this [karmarogue.com] (327 page PDF warning), learn its lessons (primarily retreating to base camps when things get hairy), and ascend. Do it on NAO and the veterans can help you through the planes via IRC in real time, too.
Zelda (Score:5, Informative)
Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda. Since she's 10, she might get a kick out of Wind Waker due to kid-friendly themes (while still not being completely kid-sanitized) and a slightly better learning curve than, say, Twilight Princess or Ocarina of Time. You can't go wrong with Zelda, and Wind Waker is a really, really great game. Exploring those islands, filling my sea chart with maps of the islands and so on will live on forever in my memories because of the sense of discovery in that game. It was pretty easy to play, too, while still having challenging puzzles.
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I was going to recommend this, too. I bought a GameCube pretty much just to play Wind Waker (well, and Metroid Prime).
You can get a GameCube on eBay for less than $30, and a copy of Wind Waker for less than $20 - adds up to no more than the price of a new PC or console game...
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Ocarina of time would be fine if you were there to help a bit. Also one of the funnest games ever.
What? No Neopets? (Score:2)
I thought the gerne "Adventure"... (Score:4, Informative)
...didn't include hack-and-slash dungeon crawlers/RPGs.
If you're looking for actual adventures, then the Syberia series is a good point to start. Modern in their design, accessible mechanical puzzles and a wonderful non-violent story. There's also Amerzone, Myst and The longest Journey.
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I was going to suggest The Longest Journey as well but noticed it had an ESRB rating of M for language (although I don't remember anything specifically wrong with the language used in it).
Also, I recently played "Lost Horizon" which although it has mixed reviews (most negative reviews saying it was "too easy") I found a lot of fun to play and quite amusing in places. A didn't find the puzzles too easy, in fact I found them to be a refreshing "balance" and at least all the solutions were logical.
Cheers
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IIRC, the talking Raven in the magic universe lays down the S-word a few times and the F-word once or twice. At least, in the version I played. (I remember thinking at the time it was weird that they ruined their kid-friendly rating for a couple of pointless swears.)
The game also features April in her underwear, not sure if that counted towards the score.
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The Longest Journey was a really wonderful adventure. Outside of the occasional bad word, the overall theme might be a bit disturbing... as I recall, she ends up having to control her memory of her father abusing her (or at least that was a pretty obvious way of looking at it). But for sure it's a great point and click adventure with a lot of fun characters.
When you said Adventure (Score:2)
I was thinking like Syberia or Dreamfall, especially for a young girl. But then I looked at the game Fate and I believe I'm maybe in the wrong genre.
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No, he is. You are correct.
If you want a Diablo-like game (Score:5, Informative)
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If you like Fate then apart from the sequels (I think they're up to #4 now) Torchlight is the perfect next step.
Titan Quest (as others have suggested) is a brilliant game, but likely a bit much for a 10-year-old.
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You underestimate 10 year olds. Sure there are lots of ways to min/max class builds and gear in Titan Quest but you can get through it without an intimate understanding of the mechanics. It's not really more complex than the games I played when I was ten years old (Ultima series for example). I would have loved Titan Quest's depictions of mythology and the classical Greek and Egyptian environments when I was a kid.
I agree with Torchlight as a move up from Fate though. Easy co-op and nice cartoony graphics.
Monkey Island (Score:3)
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Shrek is Dreamworks, not Pixar. Here [slashfilm.com].
Syberia I & II (Score:2)
Assorted adventure games (Score:2)
Minecraft is the mainstay in our household, perfect for a ten year-old. Build, explore, mine, and create your own world.
We had a good time with Trine, and up to three can play. It's a pretty game, though hooking up multiple mice and keyboards to a PC can be tricky.
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Torchlight (Score:3)
Torchlight is very much like Diablo, but not as scary, IIRC. Look into it. You can turn off any simulated blood, IIRC. There is a demo available at Gamefront [gamefront.com] file hosting.
BTW. These are TPL's (Third Person Looters), not adventure games. Usually, Diablo and FATE get called an RPG, which is a good enough classification. I almost recommended Zork I, based on the "adventure" genre, but then decided to RTFS. You can only imagine how disappointed your daughter would be cracking open a text adventure, wanting FATE instead!
If she gets into actual "adventure" games, the HER Interactive Nancy Drew series is a lot of fun, and has light to pretty difficult puzzles to solve.
--
Toro
West of House
There is a small mailbox here.
>read leaflet
"WELCOME TO SLASHDOT! YOU
MUST BE NEW HERE!
SLASHDOT is a game of adventure,
danger, and low cunning. In it you will
explore some of the most amazing
territory ever seen by mortals. No
computer should be without it!"
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Re:Torchlight (Score:5, Insightful)
You can only imagine how disappointed your daughter would be cracking open a text adventure, wanting FATE instead!
It depends upon the resolution of her imagination's graphics whether Zork is good.
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I set up my nine year old with Zork. After the initial shock of at the concept of a game that can be played without the mouse, she loved it. It got annoying after the fifth time she asked me how to spell "examine", though.
Absolute best (Score:2)
Tes:4 (Score:2)
not multiplayer (I wish it was), but Oblivion is really good.
Myst (Score:2)
I gave my niece Myst as her first true "adventure" game and she loves it.
I realized she'd like it when one of her Hidden Object games was half adventure game and she really liked that aspect, so it wasn't just out of the blue.
Depends what you mean by adventure (Score:2)
If you really mean adventure games, then I would recommend The Whispered World, and anything from Telltale.
But it sounds like you mean hack-n-slash RPG, in which case I would recommend Torchlight.
Going Outside is a good adventure (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not on the PC, but it's pretty cheap.
You can quest together on occasion.
It's generally not scary.
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It's generally not scary.
Man, what patch version of RL are you playing?
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It's generally not scary.
Trekking thru Missouri attempting to outrace the black, rolling thunderclouds to a safe location, putting up a tent with shock cords so it remains upright in the high winds, and sitting out the lightning storm and torrential rains in said tent can verge on scary. But, hey, the clean smell of nature renewed afterward is a nice reward.
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ScummVM (Score:2)
ScummVM is your one stop for Adventure games. The original point & click adventure games. It's free and available on any platform, but you will require original game files. Many can be had at Good Old Games, as well as the usual less legal options.
Start off with some of the Humongous Entertainment games. Freddie the Fish or Pajama Sam. Great for kids, and fun to play together. Then move to LucasArts games. Day of the Tentacle is very funny and colorful game. LOOM is beautiful, and fairly straigh
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It's not illegal until you get caught.
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If you want to download these games, go ahead. If someone knocks on your door demanding payment for something they aren't selling and didn't write, can you tell the rest of the Abandonware users so that we can have some kind of genuine legal perspec
Torin's Passage (Score:2)
If you're looking for a good old school point-and-click adventure game, I highly recommend hunting down a copy of Torin's Passage: http://www.allowe.com/Torin/index.htm [allowe.com]
Lowe designed the game so he could play it with his daughter - he's most famous for working on the baudy Leisure Suit Larry titles. That having been said, there's some sly humor there that only adults will understand. But at heart, it's a fun family game - there's even a hint system so little kids don't get too frustrated with it.
The Windows
Pepper's Adventures in Time (Score:2)
Posted too soon. Pepper's Adventures in Time [wikipedia.org] is also good. And it's freely downloadable: http://www.markseibert.com/the_full_game.htm [markseibert.com]
It has a girl as the protagonist and there's some good (if twisted) history lessons there too. Cute stuff.
Guild Wars (Score:3)
one word... (Score:3)
Lego series (Score:2)
Baldur's Gate (Score:3)
Hunt the Wumpus (Score:2)
Or maybe Animal.
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Yeah, but only on a slow serial vt100 terminal connected to an HP2000 running BASIC
Chrono Trigger (Score:2)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrono_Trigger
King's Quest series (Score:2)
Different angle than what you're asking for, but I think a better game for a child than a mind-numbing hack-n-slash.
Probably best to start with King's Quest V for the semi-modern graphics. Earlier than that might turn a kid off to the series.
Darby The Dragon (Score:2)
If you can find it, Darby the Dragon is absolutely wonderful. It is tons of fun, has lots of creative mini-games, and has GREAT music. My two daughters both played through it numerous times.
Portal and Portal 2 (Score:2)
my 10 year old LOVES Portal, and Portal 2 Co-op mode is loads of fun. It's not quite an adventure game in the pure sense, but the last level of Portal really captured her imagination, especially with the escape into the hidden areas of Aperture Labs. Portal 2 Co-op mode on an XBox is really good, because it's split screen, which makes it very easy to help out when the other player gets stuck.
You are standing in an open field west of a white (Score:2)
Kingdom hearts? (Score:2)
"What you mean by adventure", pfff. (Score:5, Insightful)
I can see some similar replies: "It depends on what you mean by adventure"... well, no. If you say adventure, you MUST mean games similar to Zork, King's Quest, Myst, Monkey Island, Gabriel Knight, stuff like that. Otherwise, you are simply using the wrong word. This is the traditional, well-established, widely accepted definition; it is not open to debate, period.
This is Confusing (Score:2)
Are you talking about Adventure games, like Cyberia or The Longest Journey, or are you talking about dungeon diggers, like Diablo and (apparently; I haven't played it) Fate?
Your answers are going to be pretty crappy, when your question is so ... confused.
You won't get useful answers (Score:3)
Since you're misusing genres, given Diable is not an Adventure game.
Hence no one knows if you actually want adventure games and hence they should recommend things like Monkey Island, or if you actually want an action-RPG and hence they should recommend things like Torchlight.
And of course the jerks just point out you mixed up the genres instead of answering at all.
Beyond Good & Evil, she'll love it (Score:2)
Great story, incredibly cute and artistically fantastic graphics, still pretty simple and all-in-all light on violence, available for just every platform under the sun, it's a great choice.
You can't go wrong.
Magicka (Score:2)
Syberia (Score:2)
Ico (Score:3)
Ico
But like someone else, I suggest text adventures too. There's lots of free or shareware ones too.. e.g. http://www.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXgamesXzcode.html [ifarchive.org]
Leisure Suit Larry ... (Score:4, Funny)
Point-and-click Adventures? (Score:2)
Not adventure games. (Score:2)
Stop listing adventure games. They are great but the author meant action rpg's ala diablo/TQ/torchlight.
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Ask Slashdot: Best Adventure Game To Start With?
One of my daughters ... has become interested in adventure games... and I'd like to know what Slashdotters thought would be the best set of adventure games to start her on.
Umm. (Score:2)
Diablo is not an adventure game, not even close.
Adventure games are puzzle/story based games that come in a few flavours such as the old school text based adventures like Zork and the graphical adventures that include Myst, Monkey Island, and Syberia among a plethora of others.
I would offer suggestions but they have already been covered.
But if you were more specific in what you want I am sure I or someone else could offer a suggestion. Particularly, why is Diablo not acceptable but some other game like it w
Re:classics! (Score:4, Informative)
Tales of Monkey Island (Score:5, Informative)
I would second or third the recommendation of Monkey Island. There is an remake available that's been ported to many platforms (PSN, Wii, PC, iOS, etc) called Tales of Monkey Island [telltalegames.com]. My daughter (who is 7) enjoys it quite a bit. Some puzzles are a little too hard for her and I need to help her out, so it might be the right level for your girl. The humor helps a lot too, she might not get the puzzles but she enjoys some of the responses she gets for incorrect answers- keeping her from getting to frustrated with it.
My daughter also loves the Zelda series like Windwaker and the Twilight Princess. She likes these worlds and loves to play in them not just for the story line. Like playing fetch with the a dog in Twilight Princess, or placing the pigs in Windwaker in funny spots like try to get them on a roof, or in a water basin. She sometimes plays the older versions like Majora's Mask or the Ocarina of Time but sometimes seems a little turned of by the lack of detail/responses of the environment. [sigh] Kids these days! ;)
She also likes to play on my World of Warcraft account sometimes (with supervision, of course)- although I can see many reasons not to go that route (monthly $, stranger interaction, addiction/immersion). She likes to roleplay in the environment- go fishing, follow/talk to NPCs, sleep, eat, and sometimes go on a quest or two.
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Actually, the original Monkey Island games are getting special [lucasarts.com] editions [lucasarts.com] too, with very nice painted graphics and a redesigned mouse interface. The puzzles are the same and can still be a bit involved, though, but otherwise they're classics with a modern flavor. You can also switch back to the original graphics at any time during gameplay, which is a nostalgic bonus!
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Fate plays exactly like Diablo, only it's PG. It's well made, but due to its nature, ultimately unsatisfying.
If you want co-op play, there's always Neverwinter Nights. Should be suitable for a 10 year old.
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An adventure game is between an action game and roleplay.
How can that be? One of the defining traits of the adventure genre is the ABSENCE of action gameplay.
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I can definitely recommend Lost Horizon as well. It sure had a lot of fun playing it and, yes, it is beautifully rendered. Quite cheap as well, which is always a bonus!
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Zelda is not an adventure, it is an action-RPG (in fact, Zelda DEFINES what action-RPG even means).
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Zelda games aren't adventures? My childhood memories- heck, any memory I have about Zelda games tell me to disagree with that statement.
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Zelda is not an adventure, it is an action-RPG (in fact, Zelda DEFINES what action-RPG even means).
It has elements of both, but Zelda is almost entirely an adventure game. Even though it's an action game and has RPG elements, that doesn't necessarily make it an "action RPG". Adventure games involve getting from Point A to Point B, usually from solving a puzzle or collecting an item that allows you to pass (in the case of Zelda, a weapon you find in a dungeon or a key item). This fits the definition of "adventure game" [wikimedia.org] perfectly. The only Zelda game that I'd consider to be Action RPG-like would be Majora'
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With all the patches I thought it finally was.
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It is like the computerized version of Legos.
and before people mention Legos online... I dont think that is a 10+ game.
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It's not exactly adventure, but Minecraft is awesome for all ages. I was put onto it by my teenage nephews. My 6yo kid loves it because it fires his imagination and I love it because he's learning good lessons about managing resources, oh yeah and developing redstone circuits to automate things or provide serial communication is a lot of fun too....
He's a little young to play on anything other than peaceful (he covers his eyes if I put it on Easy) but it's still hours of fun for him. The only trouble we hav
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"A little easier", lol, lol, I am actually still physically laughing out loud right now. Myst is one of the more challenging games in the whole of adventure-dome while Syberia is in the easy category easily.
First off Myst is not in my opinion at all suited for a 10 year old girl.
And secondly I always recommend REALmyst as a 3D alternative that really opens up the world.
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But lets not forget, Minecraft makes little girls cry (http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.com/2011/03/minecraft-makes-little-girls-cry.html).