Choose your own adventure games?

JoanMcWench

Member
Registered
Feb 16, 2015
87
9
8
37
Well, some may call it an episodic interactive drama graphic adventure game but I thought that was a tad long. I think Telltale kind of has cornered this market but I'm not really sure if they've convinced me as to whether I really love the concept. I like it. I just don't love it yet.

I've played The Walking Dead's & I just finished playing The Wolf Among Us & it was a decent story but I miss, I don't know, game play? I'm fine getting invested in a story (I loved L.A. Noire) but I miss free movement. How do you guys feel about these games?
 
I don't think you can call them choose your own adventure, as you really aren't choosing that much. That said, I do like Wolf Among Us and I enjoyed watching people play The Walking Dead. So I don't really mind the games, especially since they come with a pretty reasonable price tag on them.
 
Having played The Walking Dead games & making numerous different choices in each I noticed there's enough of a difference to warrant 'adventure choosing'. Only played Wolf once so wouldn't know.
 
I really love CYOA/Episode games like the Walking Dead! The only annoying part about some of those games is that one would have to purchase each and every darn episode to play it. You should try Heavy Rain if you like these kinds of games.
 
I've played that as well. I tend to shy away from DLC so I've never encountered having to buy the episodes one at a time. I buy the game as a whole or rent the game as a whole & go from there.
 
I think it is kind of good and different choices happen, soem can be good or bad and you can get the feeling sometimes is the right choice or not like in the witcher game you get not really good or bad choices more in the middle. You find out the witch is accused of murder, summoning a beast, causing mayhem, upon further investigation find out the drunk had killed his own brother, the trader dealt with bandits and the priest also knew all this and because of them the beast came and you have a choice either way the people die in the battle and few remain, killing the witch later on you find out she is innocent I choose to romance her and save her. These sort of choices can be hard, as at the time you can only presume it is the best and moslty turns out to be good and only some do react badly to your choice and have to fight them even when you give them a choice to leave.
 
Well, some may call it an episodic interactive drama graphic adventure game but I thought that was a tad long. I think Telltale kind of has cornered this market but I'm not really sure if they've convinced me to whether I really love the concept. I like it. I just don't love it yet.

I've played The Walking Dead's & I just finished playing The Wolf Among Us & it was a decent story but I miss, I don't know, game play? I'm fine getting invested in a story (I loved L.A. Noire) but I miss free movement. How do you guys feel about these games?

To me, you don't play these games for the game play at all, but for the story. It essentially is just an interactive movie with a few choices that you have as the gamer.

I bought the first season of the Walking Dead, but from then on, I've just watched the episodes from one of my favorite streamers. Saves you the money from buying it, time as you don't have to go through the game yourself, and can just watch the play through at your own pace. And you still get 90% of the enjoyment from the game. The other downfall of these kind of games is you don't really get any replay value out of them once you know the story. That makes just watching the play through an even better option in my book.
 
Agreed but I think it wouldn't kill them to incorporate more game play into the story. In the sense of, say, Oregon Trail you're basically just making decision that result in the life or death of people but they also incorporated a nice hunting aspect. Why not do the same with games today? Maybe a tad less crudely done.
 
I actually like the real Walking Dead TV series so I was biased when I got a copy of the Walking Dead Season @ for the PS3. To be honest, I liked it because i was a fan of the show. But there was no real game play. It was just choosing the right path at key moments of the story line. Would I pay $50 bucks for that kind of game play, no. But I got a free copy so I played it anyways.
 
I'm a big Otaku (fan of asian culture) and I love telltale games because they're the closest thing to a western version of a gaming genre called "Visual Novel" in which you're presented key decisions during a "game" (if you can really even call it that), and the choices you make uncover different "routes" and "endings" for the story. These games have huge replay value, and Telltale is a little lacking in replay due to only having one ending. But still there are some decisions which do effect what happens story wise which may make replay for some users worth it.

I do not need "gameplay" to enjoy a game. I play ALL of my games (regardless of what genre they may be) ONLY for the story, so if they have nothing BUT story, that's fine for me.

In Japan, there's even another subset of this genre, called a Kinetic Novel, (AND there are a few available on steam), in which you get NO freedom of choice, and literally just sit there clicking and reading.

They aren't really my taste. I NEED that freedom of choice and high replay factor :( I picked up Eden* on Steam without realizing it was a kinetic novel and not visual novel, and despite it being quite good, I have yet to finish it due to losing interest.

If you enjoy games like Telltale's catalog of "interactive movies", check out some visual novels which are also available on Steam such as Prince Evangile, Little Witch Romanesque, Nameless, and Dandelion Wishes Brought To You.

Also for similar games check JAST USA, Manga Gamer, and Jlist / Jbox.

I recommend Stein's Gate by JAST USA and a bunch of titles from Hirameki International who are no longer in business, but their stuff is available on Jlist/Jbox. Such as Ever 17 and Anamundi Dark Alchemist.
 
I love text and graphic based choose-your-own-adventures. One of my first experiences in the genre was Indigo Prophecy. I was young at the time and had never stopped to play a story-based game; I thought they were uninteresting and unenjoyable. My opinions changed when I rented the Indigo Prophecy after seeing some gameplay footage. It was not as fast-paced as the trailer had led me to believe, but the compelling story and memorable characters got me hooked. I finished the game and replayed it several more times after.

From that point on, I loved and actively sought narrative games. The stories they weave provide more emotion, depth, and excitement than most action games.
 
Agreed but I think it wouldn't kill them to incorporate more game play into the story. In the sense of, say, Oregon Trail you're basically just making decision that result in the life or death of people but they also incorporated a nice hunting aspect. Why not do the same with games today? Maybe a tad less crudely done.
I would say that Telltale started out with at least a minor focus on game play. The first season of The Walking Dead had a fair number of puzzles that required some brain power, such as the bit in the drug store where you need to figure out how to redirect a swarm of zombies. Their newer instalments seem to be wandering away from that and into visual novel terrain, though - I barely remember any puzzles from the second season. Guess they figured most players didn't really care whether they played through puzzles and action sequences or not?
 
The funny thing is people have this crazy concept of what a "game" is or what "gameplay" is. Most don't even know the history of games and yet they make this silly assumption that TWD aren't games because you aren't fighting, shooting, kicking, and the list goes on and on. My favorite game right now has to be Life is Strange. Which is a narrative based game that builds off the choices you make. I love story driven games much more than the standard FPS of fighting game.

Just gotta remember that not all games are set by one single standard.