Point and click games [split topic]

[falafel]

Willy Beamish was another favourite. Maybe not the greatest game but just enjoyed wandering around the nice environments

Toot-Sweet, Nintari, and not knowing what a pink slip was.

[MojoJojo]

Monkey Island II was my favourite game for a long time (might still be), but my overriding memory was it coming on ELEVEN floppy disks (on Amiga). There's one bit in the game where someone (Largo?) spits and you have to swap disks to see the animation of the spit flying through the air.

I never completed it on the Amiga, because near the end there's a bit where you have to complete a puzzle, but LeChuck keeps on wandering in and teleporting you to a different room. Which was annoying enough, but especially bad since the room change required a disk swap.

[Two Headed Sex Beast]

There's a new Simon the Sorcerer prequel game in development. I loved the original first two (not so much the 3D sequels after that), still not sure there is much reason for a prequel besides nostalgia.

I've read good things about Lucy Dreaming, which I've stuck on my Switch wishlist

[Critcho]

I prefer the second overall for its size and cynical tone, but the first Monkey Island is probably the only fully rounded one. Maybe the most well-rounded game in the entire genre in fact.

Most of the others have a way of petering out a bit towards the end, often at the point where they start feeling the need to tie things back to the same old characters and places they seem to be convinced everyone will be upset if they don't see.

The third one looks very nice and has a strong first couple of islands, but then goes off the rails in its eagerness to explain away the ending of the second.

The fourth one (the first 3D one) gets slated a lot, but I don't think it's particularly bad until it takes you back to Monkey Island again in the last third and it all goes off the rails again.

The episodic fifth one I think people went a little soft on, probably because they were just happy to see the series come back at that point. It was even uglier and had worse controls than the fourth one, and it was all a bit tame.

The latest one is just ok, but I did enjoy that they did something with the ending and tied it all together in a fairly thoughtful way. Based on how I've seen people talk about it online, the fans didn't much like that, though.

[Wonderful Butternut]

There's a new Simon the Sorcerer prequel game in development. I loved the original first two (not so much the 3D sequels after that), still not sure there is much reason for a prequel besides nostalgia.

I've read good things about Lucy Dreaming, which I've stuck on my Switch wishlist

Looking forward to it anyway. With luck, it won't suck. Can always refund it if it does.

1 & 2 were good. 3d was hideous, had a annoying control scheme (the fucking rope bridge) and had bugs out the arse.

4 & 5 went back to the point and click approach, but were meant to be shockingly unfunny, in either German (German developer) or English. I watched a let's play of 4 and got as far as Simon voluntarily going into the magic universe, which is largely populated by people he hates, to get out of having to do his homework. Yeah. That doesn't work, imo.

[studpuppet]

The last one that I actively thought 'wow, I'd love to play that' was Everyone's Gone To The Rapture because the screenshots looked gorgeous. I'm Mac-based so I only recently got to try it via Bootcamp and a hooky download.

It's sort of Myst-like, but a present-day easy version with no real puzzles to speak of in the couple of hours I played, more like gathering info and piecing together what's happened. I say this because the hooky download didn't allow me to save between the big scene changes, so I gave up after a while. Might try again - the graphics and sound design were pretty good.

[Waking Life]

That one is more into the oft-derided Walking Simulator territory. It goes from adventure game to visual novel to walking simulator, depending on nature of interaction in those crucial 'points' and 'clicks'. Those branching narrative games like Until Dawn and Heavy Rain fall somewhere in the middle too.

I did play (and 'complete') Everybody's Gone To The Rapture a few years ago. I loved the graphics and setting, as well as the slightly melancholic tone that permeates through it. But it wasn't particularly fun with its gameplay, or engaging in its story or character memories. It's a shame as it feels like such a wasted setting.

Soundtrack for it (and Dear Esther) are great but.

[Waking Life]

I did that first Blackwell game on the Steam Deck recently and enjoyed it for what it was. Will work through the other four. Less emphasis on puzzles and more on storytelling. I suspect I'll burn out on point n clicks soon, as nice as it is to play with a cup of tea in hand.

(also installed Scumm too though and the Discworld games look tempting...

[Two Headed Sex Beast]

Looking forward to it anyway. With luck, it won't suck. Can always refund it if it does.

1 & 2 were good. 3d was hideous, had a annoying control scheme (the fucking rope bridge) and had bugs out the arse.

4 & 5 went back to the point and click approach, but were meant to be shockingly unfunny, in either German (German developer) or English. I watched a let's play of 4 and got as far as Simon voluntarily going into the magic universe, which is largely populated by people he hates, to get out of having to do his homework. Yeah. That doesn't work, imo.

I never actually saw the 4th and 5th until now and boy do they look ugly. The first two were absolutely gorgeous, especially the background graphics, but those sequels look so cheap and muddy.

Chris Barrie is back to voice the new one, which I imagine will be a bit jarring as an even younger version of Simon

[madhair60]

a Simon extremely concerned about the new world order

[Wonderful Butternut]

Yeah Chris Barrie is a bit problematic nowadays.

[Jerzy Bondov]

How the fuck can you do a prequel? Doesn't the first one start with him accidentally going into magic world or whatever it is, having no idea of what's going on? Also it wasn't very good anyway.

[Critcho]

I never actually saw the 4th and 5th until now and boy do they look ugly. The first two were absolutely gorgeous, especially the background graphics, but those sequels look so cheap and muddy.

It's a very real thing that P&C game graphics peaked around 1993-1995 and almost everything beyond that point either looks ugly and wrong, or is an explicit throwback to that era.

Compare the graphical trajectory of the Discworld game series for another sobering demonstration of this phenomenon.

[Agent Dunham]

I think I've played all the Broken Sword games at one time or the other, including the crowdfunded one but forgot about it before I'd finished.

[jimboslice]

I've read good things about Lucy Dreaming, which I've stuck on my Switch wishlist

I disliked this game. The puzzle side of it was decent enough (very tough, some absolute bullshit in places, I definitely cheated a bit) but I think it really missed the mark in terms of it's sense of humour.

[Two Headed Sex Beast]

I disliked this game. The puzzle side of it was decent enough (very tough, some absolute bullshit in places, I definitely cheated a bit) but I think it really missed the mark in terms of it's sense of humour.

Ah that's a shame, the clips I saw looked OK and I hoped the "British" humour would be decent. A certain

Spoiler alert

mighty pirate

[close]

makes a cameo too from what I heard?

For other games including bullshit puzzles and dodgy humour, the Deponia series is at least worth a try for point and click enthusiasts.

[jimboslice]

For other games including bullshit puzzles and dodgy humour, the Deponia series is at least worth a try for point and click enthusiasts.

That's the game I would compare it the most I think - I bounced off of Deponia for the dodgy humour and constant references too.