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First Time Player Recommendations
144 Plays7 days ago
Ben and Jess discuss games to recommend someone whose never played an adventure game, if such a thing exists.
Quest Quest podcast is Ben Vigeant and Jess Morrissette.
Editing by Ben Vigeant
Show art by Kevin "WilcoWeb" Wallace
Watch us on Twitch!
Ben: https://www.twitch.tv/ps_garak
Jess: https://www.twitch.tv/decafjedi
Give us a review, they help people find this show! Unless you hated it, in which case, don't.
Talk with us on Discord!
https://discord.gg/ve9fqjgPp2
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Streaming Handles
00:00:25
Speaker
Quest Quest. Adventure Game Podcast. I'm Ben. And I'm Jess. ah we We both stream. I'm under PS underscore Garrick.
00:00:39
Speaker
G-A-R-A-K. And Jess, what do you stream under? I'm Decaf Jedi. Great. All right, well, that's... Old decaf Jenna. Yeah, old decaf-y. How are you doing today, Jess? We didn't talk a lot before.
00:00:52
Speaker
Usually, you and I will have like a half-hour conversation before. Yeah, like conversation slash therapy session with one other. yeah. Yeah. We just get things off our chest so we can be all engaging and friendly and fun here on the pod. And that's, you know, it's kind of like a warm up, but you know what? It's fine. we'll we'll we'll we'll go in we'll We'll go in cold.
Food Stories: Cuban Eats and Berea Torta
00:01:16
Speaker
How was your day today, Jess?
00:01:18
Speaker
Well, you know, Ben, there's nothing more fun than a day spent in airports and on airplanes. Just folded into a tiny seat oh and yeah just enjoying flying the friendly skies.
00:01:32
Speaker
Now, okay, did did you fly Delta? They're the friendly skies, right? No, I mean, they are the company that has the friendly skies slogan, but mean, the skies themselves are pretty friendly.
00:01:43
Speaker
Now, ah do you ah did you eat at the airport and did you have anything fun at the airport? Yes, yes, yes. I want to give a shout out to to Zaza's ah Cuban eatery in the Orlando International Airport. big Big shout out to Zaza's. We're going to have to hear exactly what's on this Cuban so we can discuss this when we have our sandwich segment.
00:02:09
Speaker
but Okay, it was the wrong time of day for a Cuban. i did I love their Cuban. I've had it before. okay It is delicious, but it is a very this is like an actual family-owned Cuban restaurant somehow in an airport. It doesn't make any sense. I love Inexplicable. Now, yeah is this the only is this their only location?
00:02:31
Speaker
That's a great question. This I do not know. This can't be the only location, right? It would be weird if you're just like, my dream is to someday have a restaurant in an airport. And we finally, after generations, we finally made happen. No, it doesn't.
00:02:45
Speaker
Surely not. I mean, it feels pretty slick if this is just like a pop-up sort of thing. But I didn't have the Cubano. I have had it before and it's delicious. It's a classic ah Cubano, not Subway Cubano, not a Puerto Rican style. um you but But what I had today was just a lovely beef empanada and a guava pastry. Oh, because it was early and i just need a little breakfast snack.
00:03:10
Speaker
Oh, man. Oh, man. It was, you know, a little spicy, not much. Just that like a little bit of Cuban style. Oh, it was good. i I myself, i'm I'm feeling a little tired right now, Jess, and I'll tell you why. It's because I had a very large sandwich.
00:03:28
Speaker
Why'd you have, Ben? I had a ah Berea Torta. And it spectacular. Oh, man. But it is like, I feel it. Like, I feel like I'm ah like in an RPG and I'm taking like turn, like damage each turn.
00:03:45
Speaker
I have sleepy this sandwich has made. okay Are you also over encumbered? I'm over encumbered, taking poison damage. Move at half speed. Yeah, I'm moving at half speed. Can't flee enemies.
00:03:59
Speaker
Yeah, i ah I have to gather my party. ah like
00:04:07
Speaker
Taking disadvantage on all attack rolls. Yeah. I
00:04:14
Speaker
mean, I don't know. I mean, is there. It was a great sandwich. Let me be clear. Is there a better food on earth than a burrito?
00:04:28
Speaker
the You know, the worst thing about this was I was list the this place that I went, which I've talked about before on this podcast. This is place down the street that has very good tortas. And they have a massive menu of tortas and like easily like easily a couple dozen tortas.
00:04:47
Speaker
And I look at all of like this huge list of them. They all seem very interesting. And then I order the Berea Torta. I'm, you know, listen. It's always right.
00:04:59
Speaker
i'm I'm just, i'm I'm pulled in. I'm pulled in by the the promise. And you want to know what? It's great every time. It's just that there's another like three dozen sandwiches.
00:05:11
Speaker
Yeah. i And the bread there is very good. How comically oversized is the bread this is served on? I usually feel like when i get a torta, it's like twice the amount of bread i need. and i felt grateful for It felt like an appropriate amount of bread. Okay. Let me, ah hold on.
00:05:28
Speaker
Let me, I took a photo of
Community Engagement: Discord and Listener Comments
00:05:30
Speaker
this sandwich. Oh, great. And I will, I will share. Well, you know what? Looking at this, that is a lot of bread. You know what? I withdraw. Just looking at this photo, I'm like, that's a fair amount of bread. But you know what?
00:05:43
Speaker
loved every I loved every bite. I'm going to share this with you, Jess. You tell me. ah Definitely a lot of bread. Let me see here. I'm going to... i'm i'm I'm saving it right now onto my desktop.
00:05:58
Speaker
I can't wait. I'm uploading it to ah the moderators only of our Discord, which I will ah ah start to remember to put the link to it because I've seen people ask.
00:06:12
Speaker
um where How do I get into the discord? and We want you to come join the discord. We'd love to have you. Yeah. Yeah. And just check out the episode description for a link to that discord. Yeah. If I remember.
00:06:24
Speaker
Ben remembers. That looks amazing, Ben. It's a really good sandwich. yeah no that looks really good i wish i could describe this sandwich to you folks well i mean well tuesday morning when this comes out uh uh you know be sure to ask on our discord link probably the description or not yeah we'll see you know but anyway but this and i had this sandwich uh i would say about 3 30 uh ah Like I ah slept in today yesterday with ah was the was the pride parade ah here in Chicago. So i I slept in a little bit.
00:07:03
Speaker
And ah then ah i always take the day off after the the pride parade. But it's not that I'm like, I'm i'm not really ah that like I wasn't really that hung over not really doing that much of that anymore.
00:07:19
Speaker
ah But I still like having the day off and I and I, you know, I spent my post pride parade a day doing, you know, the the gayest thing I possibly could think of, which was assembling ah furniture that arrived in the mail.
00:07:37
Speaker
So I put together a bookcase and ah a small patio set of ah ah like a small patio table and two chairs.
00:07:48
Speaker
And i also ah assembled a lamp. Wow. And I gotta tell you, like, you know, I i look at all of those things and i'm I'm like, wow, this is this is but incredible.
00:08:02
Speaker
ah You should be proud. Yeah, I have pride. And... i have pride and
00:08:11
Speaker
But, you know, the thing is, is that I assembled this little patio table and and two chairs, and then I was like, should I, am I going to, like, take my Steam Deck out outside and sit on my my little condo deck with my Steam Deck stack and, ah you know, play some video games outside?
00:08:28
Speaker
And then i thought... It's way too fucking hot for that. I'm going to play video games in my house where they belong. i mean, yeah, Ben, I have been in Florida for the past five or six days, and apparently it was hotter here in West Virginia than it was in Florida.
00:08:47
Speaker
That makes no sense. What's going on? Why is everything topsy-turvy? Well... I don't- There's no exclamation exlamation for it. There's no exclamation for There's no exclamation except, wow, that's hot. Yikes.
00:09:00
Speaker
Woo, that's spicy weather. Yeah. I don't know, it just started happening gradually over the last couple decades. Mm-hmm.
00:09:16
Speaker
I imagine it has something to do with like low church attendance. I don't know. my That's my guess. And that's why after this pod, well, first off, I'm recording this inside of my church. And then afterwards, i'm I'm going to go into the confessional.
00:09:31
Speaker
Then i just recap everything I discussed. in the, uh, in the podcast, in the confessional. Uh, and then, uh, I'm going to, it's going to be a night mass. Uh, we're recording this on a Monday, but, uh, I'm going to a Monday night night mass.
00:09:46
Speaker
Yeah. You see you a lot of podcasts, like you take something like a critical role, like they will do like an after show where they broadcast that to patrons. It's like this exclusive feature where they break down what happened on the episode.
00:09:58
Speaker
Ben just does a personal one of those directly with his priest where he goes into the confessional booth and just recaps everything he talked about on the podcast. And yeah the priest absolves him. And then we get ready to record next week's.
00:10:11
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's exactly how it is. i say He tells me I got to do five Hail Marys, give a little money to like, you know, a charity charity. uh like you know you know uh like a food pantry or something and then yeah we're good to go and you know what i'm really good to go for barilla torta no emails
How to Introduce Newcomers to Adventure Games
00:10:37
Speaker
Wow. you That was a warm up for for games. What have you been playing? And then I was like, oh, but we so so we don't we have a bunch of emails of people answering our question of ah foreign adventure games and received message received.
00:10:55
Speaker
We've received those. You have more quest quest podcast at gmail.com. We're going to do that one. but Unfortunately, that podcast, even though you're emailing us, that requires Jess and I to do research.
00:11:07
Speaker
Which, you know, so that's slowing us all down. You know, I don't put a lot of thought into this. The message received. But anyway, I wanted to call out.
00:11:21
Speaker
Speaking of message received.
00:11:25
Speaker
There, the message was received, I believe, on the Loom podcast. I said, please comment on... are Spotify because that's a, that's a feature that is sometimes used.
00:11:45
Speaker
Uh, but I like just you use Spotify? I don't really use Spotify. I do use Spotify, about but don't use it for podcasts. Yeah.
00:11:56
Speaker
I just used listen to of my hip music. What have you been listening to lately?
00:12:02
Speaker
Abe Partridge. He is kind of like an alt folk guy from Alabama. That sounds kind of cool. Look him up.
00:12:13
Speaker
Abe Partridge. Anyway, right. So I said, please, we have to have more comments than my friend Yum Yum Podcast the comments. And...
00:12:25
Speaker
There have been. There have been more comments. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you, Yuffin Podcast as well. Message received. Message received. Promises kept.
00:12:36
Speaker
So let me open up Spotify for creators. Oh, wow. A creator.
00:12:46
Speaker
And so I'm just going to read a couple of these. This one's from Sebastian. For what it's worth, I think Oreos taste kind of bland, but maybe the ingredients are different here in Germany.
00:12:59
Speaker
Also, we have, all caps, prison roll. pri i I should have, we we try to look up stuff when we get.
00:13:11
Speaker
Prinzen roll. Prinzen roll. Prinzen roll. It can't be roll. rolls.
00:13:21
Speaker
Okay, I love this packaging and I have eaten these. I'm looking at them now and yes, I have had Prins and Rolls and they're quite delightful. Prins and... But I will say... They're in kind of a... This kind of a... I'm i am absolutely unfamiliar with this. This looks like kind of a like a Pringles type cylindrical...
00:13:50
Speaker
But it's a craft wrapper than like a hard container, I believe. Yeah. Like it's like flea, basically. Oh, it's a prince because there's a prince in his.
00:14:01
Speaker
I'm going to note here, I'm looking at an image here of one of the Prinzen rolls packages. And I want to say the the the Prince, the Prinzen.
00:14:13
Speaker
Prinz. ah The Prinz has extremely shapely thigh muscles. Oh, man, he does. Those are defined. Look at that. Yeah, no, absolutely.
00:14:26
Speaker
Check out. This guy didn't skip leg day. Yeah, like, I won't kick him out of bed for eating Prinzen roll.
00:14:36
Speaker
um is he Is he throwing the cookie at us? Yeah, well, directly. Yeah, we're probably looking at the same one, which is the first one that shows up. Google image search.
00:14:49
Speaker
That's our level of research. Yeah, yeah. And that's the the level of research that you'll expect when we get to the point. I just asked Chad GPT, what's a prison role? That was the result. Yeah.
00:15:01
Speaker
But yeah, yeah, he's throwing him directly into our mouth. Well, there you go. We've got ah one from Josh. I came here because I was dared by the creators to leave a comment. Thank you, John.
00:15:13
Speaker
I'm over on Apple Podcasts, but this series has been a great blast through the past. I used to skip the first 15 minutes of banter, but it's grown on me. That's right. you're like listen You listen long enough and we'll win you over.
00:15:27
Speaker
Love the content and segments. Keep it up.
00:15:31
Speaker
Uh, RVD, uh, Loon. RVD. RVD. L-E-D-U-N. Given how short it is, I'm now up for trying out Loon and then getting frustrated when I get stuck 15 minutes into it.
00:15:45
Speaker
Very possible. Andrew says if you get stuck 15 minutes in, you're a quarter of the way through. Just keep playing. Uh, Andrew says... I like the side quest quest segments of the podcast. Banter between Ben and Jess. Oh, he's good. I don't mind hearing them talking about the various new flavors of Oreos. In fact, they should probably do a ranking at some point.
00:16:08
Speaker
Message received. Message received. Dez has been trying to get me, did we talk about this last week? You've been trying to to get me to have these, what celebrity Oreo?
00:16:22
Speaker
Well, the Wizards of Waverly Place are at it again, and now they've cast a spell on me with the Selena Gomez Oreos. The Selena Gomez. Yeah, Selena Gomez.
00:16:33
Speaker
They are a chocolatey cookie with a cinnamon cream. That sounds good. I have to, I'm going to have I don't live near huge grocery store. i have like a nice little corner grocer, which is, which has everything I need, but it, it doesn't have everything I need. Yeah. yeah I mean, these have like big target and cap energy.
00:17:00
Speaker
If you know what mean? I got you. I'm picking up what you're putting down at the end of the aisle. So you're just message received. You know what? Message received.
00:17:14
Speaker
I'll read this last one and then we're done. I'm here for all the grab ass please and thank you. Well, I'm not.
00:17:23
Speaker
I thought you were pro-grabass and I'm anti-grabass. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Sorry. Oh, I'm i'm the good cop. This is the bad cop. Jess, what have you been playing? Wow, Ben.
00:17:34
Speaker
You know, I've been out of town for the past week visiting Disney World, Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Which
Theme Park Adventures and Steam Sale Finds
00:17:44
Speaker
which which resort did you stay at?
00:17:46
Speaker
Because there's couple. There's several. I stayed at All Star Music, a tribute to boomer's idea of what popular music might be. I stayed in a hotel room with a giant five-story maraca on the outside of it. so i know he was I've stayed at the yacht club.
00:18:07
Speaker
Oh, well but well, that's pretty fancy. Would you believe it wasn't? Yeah. But while I was there, it was a perfectly cromulent hotel, but it always it was just like, you know, there was just ah a guy that greeted you at the door that was in like, you know, like he had like a turtleneck on and like a, like a navy blue blazer. I'm a skipper. Yeah, there was a real skipper.
00:18:34
Speaker
Yeah, no, I mean, yeah yeah here is just like the faintest hint of rock and roll theming. But I spent four days tromping around the parks in 93 Florida weather.
00:18:47
Speaker
I walked about 35 miles in four days, just a normal amount of human walking. Do you have a watch or a fidget something? Yes. What do you have? Which one you have?
00:19:00
Speaker
Oh, I'm just actually using the the Pixels built in. Oh, the modern. Yeah, yeah. So it's probably not as accurate as a watch would be, but it's like nine to 12 miles a day. It's not great. It's too much. It's too much walking. But while was there, I did get to play two video game-esque experiences. Well, hold on to one for the next one. No, no. no you know This is important to compare. All right. Because i played...
00:19:30
Speaker
Two shooting gallery games alike in dignity, but in many ways could not be further apart in quality. This is a for all the Disney heads out there. In Magic Kingdom Bend, there's a ride called Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.
00:19:48
Speaker
Okay, you sit in a little car and you have a gun that shoots an infrared beam. And as you go through this ride, you spin around and you have to shoot little targets that are like paint, they glow scenes from Toy Story.
00:20:05
Speaker
And it's terrible. The gun, it's impossible to tell where you're shooting. It's impossible to aim it. There's no feedback really. Is it like a light gun? Yeah, it's like a light gun. It's like laser tag technology. um And there's really nothing that's telling you like what's hitting and what's not. It's just a literal crapshoot. So it wasn't hitting. it well yeah and Yeah, let's just say that infrared beam message not received. It was it was doing nothing. It's like my fucking television. Jesus.
00:20:37
Speaker
Man. But then you flip over to Disney's Hollywood Studios. And there they have a ride called Toy Story Mania. Now this is still Toy Story themed, but now it's Woody's World.
00:20:50
Speaker
And Woody is gonna be your better character. Once you're in Woody's World, now you're in a little car going through a shooting gallery, but you have like a little pull string pop gun and everything is done on on actual like interactive screens. And you see a little ball fly out of your gun and hit targets.
00:21:06
Speaker
And you can aim things and adjust and predict and win. And I crushed everyone in my family at that game. I just want to say, wow you guys suck. And I'm better at Toy Story Mania than all of those children and adults alike.
00:21:22
Speaker
Wow. well i now the I'm now the main person. in my entire family of 18 people that went to Disney with me. That's that's true. you You are in, like, ah you all you live in one of those large generational houses, right?
00:21:37
Speaker
Yeah. Your great grandparents live with you and you your like great grandchildren live with you. And all your ancestors are buried in the basement. Yes.
00:21:49
Speaker
Yeah, no, absolutely. No, it was it was a giant family trip, and Ben, I'm filled with regrets. What have you been playing? I have been playing, so it is, as of this recording, it is the Steam sale.
00:22:04
Speaker
So I re-upped on all sorts of strange games to make Jess feel slightly inadequate that, you know, I've heard of these cool games. He's like, that's what this segment's about.
00:22:16
Speaker
He's like, well, I, you know, it's ah but the sixth week in a row where I've been playing Overwatch. Um, but, uh. I'm actually downloading an update for Overwatch right now while you tell this story.
00:22:29
Speaker
Oh, yeah? Please continue. Uh. So I've been, so of the games that I've played a ah couple of games that I picked up. There's one that's been on my radar for a bit because the people that designed this made another game that I really enjoyed. So this will be a double recommendation. Take a both. i This is a a game that's currently in early access pretty soon. Actually pretty short to
00:23:01
Speaker
Like, shortly after this podcast releases, I think it will be hitting 1.0.
00:23:09
Speaker
I think. I don't know. Hold on. What's the 1.0 release date? Anyway, um it will... Oh, it's July 11th. Anyway.
00:23:20
Speaker
So, it is Maze Mice. Have you heard of this, Max? Maze Mice. No. Maze Mice is a game that is kind of made for me because it is ah a mashup of a couple different games that I like.
00:23:38
Speaker
Oh yeah, i'm looking at this now. This is made for you. It is, so it is based, like it is a pellet munching game. So a Pac-Man, but very specifically, it's a Pac-Man based off of, like it's based off of,
00:23:57
Speaker
like ah like the championship or tournament edition or whatever that one is called that was out on the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, that one where like the ghostats yeah the ghosts will be sleeping until you pass them.
00:24:16
Speaker
And so this takes that and then way that
00:24:22
Speaker
you hurt the cats that are chasing after you is that instead of,
00:24:31
Speaker
instead of like eating a big power pellet, you are constantly firing off weapons in a vampire survivors esque way.
00:24:43
Speaker
Okay, like a bullet heaven kind of experience. Like, yeah, like one of those, like a survivor's like, as they are called now, it is like, so you're just automatically firing off as you move.
00:24:57
Speaker
And you also get special power-ups that kind of augment those weapons. You have a limit of, I think it's like four or five weapons and four or five augments, and you can level all those up.
00:25:13
Speaker
Uh, and the, the final little twist on it is that the game is paused until you move.
00:25:23
Speaker
So it pauses when you're stopped and moves when you move.
00:25:29
Speaker
Uh, in that, so that lets you just kind of like put it down and think like, oh, do I want to go this way or that way? Matthew would never. And... It is just a lot of fun. I've been having a lot of fun playing this early access. It's super like it is right now on the Steam sale. It's eight bucks, but like off sale, it's 10.
00:25:50
Speaker
So, you know, like it will be fine. And then the other game that they made that I really liked it. I, uh, I got that this game in one of those, uh, itch fundraiser things was luck be a landlord.
00:26:09
Speaker
Have you ever played luck be a landlord? No. Luck be a landlord is a, uh, slot machine builder.
00:26:20
Speaker
Oh, where, uh, so it's that you have to, to pay, uh, your landlord at the end of every week. And the way that you make your money you, uh, uh, spin slot machine.
00:26:35
Speaker
And, after each spin, you have the option of adding something like something to the the slot machine. you know, grid or like the potential things that it will roll. The loop pool.
00:26:49
Speaker
And as you play, like there are, you know, super rare things and also the amount that the landlord charges you goes up every week. So you like essentially build um like a much more powerful like slot machine that has all sorts of like a uh, efficiencies based off of, uh, it's like, oh, I'm, I'm going, I'm doing a fruit run.
00:27:13
Speaker
i'm just getting fruit stuff like that. It's a great, great game. Lucky a landlord. and that is, uh, $5 on sale. And again, a great value at 10, uh, if it's not on sale.
00:27:27
Speaker
So get both of those games. They're both really fun. Uh, uh, lucky a landlord and, uh, maze mice.
00:27:35
Speaker
Uh, so, and, uh, that's, that's our whole podcast ah
Making Adventure Games Accessible for Beginners
00:27:38
Speaker
today. Thank you for joining us and be sure to comment, uh, on Spotify or send us an email quest quest podcast at gmail.com. Wait, Ben, I've got an idea.
00:27:48
Speaker
Yes. What if we talked about today? Something that's been my mind recently. so Let me ask you your a question first. Have you ever successfully turned someone on to the adventure game genre?
00:28:04
Speaker
I don't know if I've turned someone on to the adventure game genre, but I've definitely gotten people to play adventure games who and enjoy them. who other like People who would who would be like, don't know.
00:28:23
Speaker
And then I would be like, how about you try this? And ah I have had some success with with some games that I feel are a little more ah like ah inviting ah to to to someone.
00:28:40
Speaker
Have you ever gotten, like, you know, recently, let's say. mean, that's the thing. was going to say. Yeah, as a kid, you know, when you're the only kid in the neighborhood with a computer, you can just force kids to play anything you want to. It's like Sierra time, dummy.
00:28:56
Speaker
Sit down. ah But, you know, I don't know that I've ever successfully, like, sold anyone on adventure games. You know, I think the wildest experience for me is when I teach my video game course at my university, like on day one, I kind of do like a getting to know me a bit where I just throw up some stuff about, you my experience as a gamer personally and talk about growing up, playing adventure games and just like putting a game like Kings Quest or Monkey Island up on a PowerPoint in front of students.
00:29:34
Speaker
It is clear, A, there's no recognition and also just a sense of like, what is wrong with you, old man? I think i feel like this is a genre that everyone I've ever talked to about is already in on it or has no interest in learning more, which what is what makes it a great opportunity to podcast about. But I don't think necessarily ah that it is.
00:30:01
Speaker
It's an impenetrable genre. And and kind of what I thought we could talk about today is the question. If you had to recommend to someone who's never played an adventure game before their very first adventure game, what would you recommend to them? That's our topic for today.
00:30:18
Speaker
yeah and so ah we we were thinking we would talk about like some stuff that might make a game a little more inviting in that in that sense and also like i have a list of games that uh that that i've had some some of these i've had success with interesting uh matter all in the in the theoretical realm theoretical realm looking here uh i i like some of these ah on my my list i'm like i think at least one of these probably two of them uh are are ones where like i think that would be on anyone's uh for for the genre uh so what would you like yeah how would you like to to to start jess i mean i guess for me like when i was thinking about this uh this topic one of the
00:31:15
Speaker
first things that popped up for me is, yeah know, if you're going to recommend an adventure game to somebody who's never played it before, how important is the question of, do you recommend sort of a retro classic Or do you recommend something a little newer?
00:31:33
Speaker
Newer. Newer. Newer. newer near near new and near near near near you no near near near near nar not oh well hold on now all the australians are thinking and we're saying no
00:31:47
Speaker
but but i feel like this is i mean it's probably not where all of my favorite adventure games lie you know i'm ah i'm a retro boy but I do feel like maybe there's some advantages to recommending a newer game. I feel like, I mean, there there's some timeless older games, but just some basic quality of life type stuff, I think, yeah with newer games might be a little more engaging. I have a few older ones on my list, but I do think That's important. and And then the other question that I think that goes with that is how traditional should.
00:32:24
Speaker
That's, that's a good question. I, I, I cover both bases with that. Good, good, good. Cause that's what I'm wondering. You know I think when I think traditional, I'm thinking probably third person perspective,
00:32:36
Speaker
you're a king's quest them up a king's quest them up or a monkey island them up you've got an inventory you're walking around the world you're solving puzzles that sort of stuff versus something that really breaks way out of that mold in some way uh i so so the thing about newer versus older is that uh games are like they're their Everything is is released within the context of like the the time that it was made and the audience it's being sold And...
00:33:13
Speaker
and Like, i've I've seen some people get, like, kind of frustrated with, like, ah that, you know, like ah like a newer game or or or newer players or something like that might be a little against something like Deaths.
00:33:37
Speaker
ah or well I don't think anyone misses dead man walking ah situations I mean no i like i I've heard defenses in the case of deaths and very good ones ah but I don't know if I've ever heard anyone say it's actually really good have a design where if you didn't pick up this thing at the very start of the game ah you're screwed i don't I don't think that but the the thing is is that the The context that a like a like a late 80s, early 90s Sierra LucasArts lucas arts or or you know whatever, any of those, is is put out, the context that that's put out and the the audience that's playing it is completely different.
00:34:25
Speaker
It has different expectations than a audience, someone picking up a game now. And that isn't saying, you know, people are smarter then people are dumber now.
00:34:37
Speaker
It's saying that, ah like, you know, and in some part, if you're going to buy a game for, you know, $50 $90, you're going to want have lengthy game you're going to want to have a lengthy uh experience that like you kind of grind on and you like and also you're getting manuals and you're getting feelies and you're getting like like the stuff in the box which you're not if i'm gonna spend 50 i want to manually grind on it yeah you have to manually grind it don't look at all the boxes on jess's shelf uh
00:35:17
Speaker
And, and like, so now a like adventure games released now are made not only for the, like a more contemporary taste, but they're also made like they cost less.
00:35:35
Speaker
Not only do they cost less, but also the value of currency, like, you know, of the dollar that it is. Like, it's so, it like, 90s, $50 is ah considerably more. And then, like, you factor in that. what How much does an adventure game, ah like, ah how much did... ah like old skies cost at at a off sale old skies. So that's the the newest why jet I game that's that's 20 bucks.
00:36:09
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like adventure games nowadays tend to cap off a lot around $24.99. Was it Return to Monkey Island $24.99? was pretty cheap. Yeah, I think $25 is a perfectly... Well, because everybody... Like, there was a... whohoo harry they did did It costs more than $20. Yeah, it's $25. And it's like, that's fine.
00:36:29
Speaker
It's okay. We'll all lose. Yeah. Never pay more than $20 for an adventure game. That that that that game was released a long time ago. It's true. Yeah. there It's true. Yeah. but ah Message received.
00:36:43
Speaker
Message. The message has been received. But like my majeted my my whole point here is, is that people aren't going to want, like generally aren't trying to spend several hours on a game, especially if they're playing it on Steam or like even if they're playing it on like their console or whatever else.
00:37:03
Speaker
And you have like, you can buy like, you know, 50 to a hundred other games and they're all competing for your attention. ah Like, you know, I know we always say here at quest quest, the less of an adventure game there is the better.
00:37:18
Speaker
Yeah, that's right. But like, I mean, my, my, my point is, is that like you adventure games now, I think have, ah kind of a peppier pace and less ah like, and a a friendlier design.
00:37:37
Speaker
And that isn't to say that a slow pace and ah a less and like a less friendly design is a bad thing for an adventure game. But I think that's, those are the things that keep people away from a game. If they're trying for the first time, you wouldn't play Dark Souls first.
00:37:56
Speaker
No, no, no. you'd You'd start out with something simpler like Gauntlet and work your way up. I mean, shouldn't really, if we're being honest with ourselves, shouldn't probably people who've never played an adventure game before start with adventure and work
History and Evolution of Adventure Games
00:38:11
Speaker
their way forward? Yeah, they they need to play it chronologically. They start with not only like they They should start with the earliest version of adventure before it was like iterated on and more caves and puzzles were added in.
00:38:27
Speaker
And things like that. Yeah, they need these shuffling punch cards. Find a PDP-10. And ah like, you know, go to like a university and ah get, you know, rent two hours of computer time.
00:38:42
Speaker
That's right. That's the only way you're ever going to appreciate when you work your way around the police quest three, everything that had to happen in order for that game to exist. Yeah. Yeah. You know, people are just, they're, they're, they're so thankless, you know, yeah they look at history.
00:39:00
Speaker
They look at police quest three and they're like, This game sucks. It's not fun. It, uh, it, the, the plot makes no sense. There's a bunch of very tedious and unfun puzzles. The driving is dog shit.
00:39:14
Speaker
Uh, the, the ending requires you to have done something at the very start. Uh, uh, the, the, the, Like I already mentioned the nonsensical plot.
00:39:25
Speaker
They're all, oh, and the driving is ah ah the worst thing that's ever happened. um ah But ah they're saying that, but they're not, they don't have the full context. They did not play adventure.
00:39:37
Speaker
Have you played Nord and Bert? If not, I don't know if you can really Nord and Bert. yeah Yeah. don't know if you can comment on Plundered Hearts. That's right. They haven't, ah they, they haven't played,
00:39:50
Speaker
ah
00:39:53
Speaker
You say Ballyhoo, and they're like, Ballywha? They
00:40:00
Speaker
ah they ah they they haven't played lucas hertzs labyrinth That's right. They have to play all of them. All them. You played Roberta Williams is dark crystal.
00:40:13
Speaker
You haven't played high res adventures at one through five. ah Ulysses and the golden fleece. Anybody. You haven't played the, the, the black cauldron.
00:40:24
Speaker
Yeah, you should. e Well, should you maybe watch a walk through like a let's play. or Or watch the movie. Have a... me Maybe read the books.
00:40:40
Speaker
Yeah, read the books. um mean, I haven't read them. No, haven't read them either. But, i know you know, they inspired a not particularly good movie and not particularly good game.
00:40:51
Speaker
But maybe the book is good. Yes, it's been known to happen. jes Jess, are there any provisors that you would think of? like or or are there like older you there are older ah games that you ah that you would recommend I mean, I think if I was trying to think of like what I would throw at somebody if I had to give them an older game, like if I was going to say, it's like, I love these retro adventures. i think I have the perfect one for you to help you understand why I love this genre. And I want you to love it too. and
00:41:23
Speaker
And they're kind of like the most obvious ones. Like, I think there is, a power to secret of monkey island obviously like i mean yeah i mean you could say hey this is like one of the absolute classics of the entire genre play this and see what you think throw the special edition at them even with its crummy graphics or whatever give them the voices to make it a little bit friendlier to a modern audience and see where it goes uh i would throw that one in there okay that's sort thing about some other like two that came to mind but i think i would rule out both of them i mean day of the tentacle uh obviously and another classic would not uh recommend day the tentacles too much and too hard it's it's way too much too much it's a great game absolutely some would say the best lucas arts adventure game
00:42:10
Speaker
um I don't know them. No, I don't feel comfortable with that pick either. We're going to redo that bracket soon, folks. Don't worry, we're going to get right this time. but No, I think it's too much. I think it's a little... i think that you have to appreciate adventure games at some level to see how, like, Day of the Tentacle is raising the bar and subverting expectations. I think it would just seem, like, very complicated and difficult to parse.
00:42:38
Speaker
It's a pretty... Like, the the puzzles in it are good, but they are they're difficult. like They are, yeah. They require... The time travel in day of the tentacle requires some lateral thinking, which I don't think would lend itself particularly well to a person playing an adventure game for the very first time.
00:42:56
Speaker
Like what' wonderful presentation. It's very funny, but I think it would just be very frustrating. think it would be too. ah you know, i also thought, well, maybe Gabriel night one is something. no way. That's it.
00:43:09
Speaker
Yeah. No, too fiddly to, too, two I hate to use like to Sierra e as like a as a knock against it.
00:43:19
Speaker
But how about the, the, the, the remake? Oh, you know, I mean, it might be a little friendlier in terms of, you know, you get the quality of life improvements, but it's still the same core game. I don't know. i think that it and Day of the Tentacle, i mean, they're difficult in different ways. Yeah. You know, Day of the Tentacle is difficult because it is, you know, really sort of sophisticated puzzle design.
00:43:42
Speaker
Gabriel Knight's difficult because it's a little fiddly and, you know. You know what I would ah recommend all the games? Oh, yeah. ah Is a Quest for Glory 1 BGA.
00:43:55
Speaker
m Is it because of the faces? It it is. I mean, the the the melty clay faces are a big part of it. But I i think that, number one, it's not a particularly difficult game.
00:44:08
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Number two is that it works within a ah ah framework that is ah very like straightforward. And i think if you're a player of games, you're familiar with, which is that yeah it's like this RPG.
00:44:27
Speaker
And so like a lot of the the stuff you're you're doing is like in, is stuck to your stats.
00:44:38
Speaker
And so a lot of that is, yeah. If you played Skyrim, you know, you have a point of entry for how, quest for glory one vga works i mean it's not that far and i mean it may be the rpg element works as a nice trojan horse yeah yeah they get someone who maybe knows that genre better and trick them into playing an adventure game so actually like that pick quite a lot that has been one of mine that i would i like i if if i am to recommend any old like adventure game adventure game from 20th century
00:45:15
Speaker
centuries it would be a quest for glory one ah VGA. Secret monkey Island is pretty good too, though. Like, yeah, there's a, I mean, there's an undeniable charm to both of those that, especially if you have someone who's looking for a little bit of whimsy in their gaming experience, I think both of those have a ah pretty strong chance of grabbing their tissue. Like part of me thinks, you know, Gabriel not hits that slightly.
00:45:42
Speaker
more mature angle but again i don't know i feel like difficulty level is part of this thing that has to be cracked like part me thinks you you throw a tough game at somebody and there's a good chance they bounce off of it if they haven't developed through years of poor playing poorly designed adventure games the right skill set to take these apart All right. Well, ah then then we'll move on to to new. So it's like, I think you you were talking earlier about ah like kind of Trojan horsing.
00:46:19
Speaker
um Like, or you said Trojan horsing with ah ah Quest for Glory 1, but also you were talking about how like, is it like a straight point and click? Or...
00:46:31
Speaker
is it a adventure game like a, uh, that isn't like a King's quest them up. So yes, I've got a ah couple of those here, uh, that I would recommend. One of these, I would say is probably the most recommended uh, of that.
Exploring Indie Games and Walking Simulators
00:46:52
Speaker
Maybe, maybe not this game in particular,
00:46:57
Speaker
But like this, uh, this publisher, I, this feels like kind of a, a classic one, which is to say, i would say, machinarium. Oh, you could say Samorost or, you know, uh, uh, uh, Botan, uh,
00:47:18
Speaker
botan killer oh yes i yeah i had a but uh but yeah like those games you've played those right i have not played any of those you haven't played any those not a single one they're so cute so tell me about them uh they're they're these games so the uh this developer uh uh a manti uh i'm gonna mispronounce it the developer that did, uh, Machinarium, uh, uh, they, um, make these games that are these, the, you know, they, they, like, I haven't played their most recent ones. So maybe they've, uh, you know, added some complexity as it, as it goes, but they're, they're games where, ah they're, they're kind of similar a little bit in, in some ways to, um,
00:48:13
Speaker
like kind of goblins where it's like one screen to the next screen or at least the earliest ones. um And they are that like ah they they kind of remind me of the the games for kids that actually like will play on my stream sometimes like when we finish up a game and we have a little free time like.
00:48:36
Speaker
uh like some of those storybook games for kids that they had in the early to mid 90s where like you click on something and a noise happens i love it or like a little action happens and for for this for like uh samarost or uh man i'm probably mispronouncing all these or like machinarium or any of those you're ah like kind of clicking and like solving little ah puzzles with that. And then, so you solve a little puzzle with that and then you move on to the next one and you solve a little puzzle there.
00:49:09
Speaker
So I'll admit it's been a very long time since played Machinarium. So, you know, if I'm, but like this has a couple advantages. One is it, it has a really obvious design. You know exactly what you're doing. Two is that,
00:49:26
Speaker
They're really beautiful. They have this... All of their games have this, like, gorgeous storybook art style that is really... Like, it's it's just very appealing, um all their games.
00:49:44
Speaker
They're, like... You know, think... i think for for some players they might not finish the game but you know will they say at the end i had a great time ah will they keep thinking about that like and i i think uh like machinarium and all all their their games uh are are kind of like that Okay. I like that pick a lot. You should do one of those on on your stream. i if
00:50:15
Speaker
If you've never played one, you know. yeah mean, I know all the titles. i've seen Try one out. Yeah, no, I should. No, absolutely. I've seen them pop up for forever. um And like, you know, sales and things like that. And yeah recommended titles. I've just never really clicked through to to take a closer look. So now I'll have to do that. Thank you, man, for the recommendation. Yeah. Maybe you'll make me finally like adventure games.
00:50:39
Speaker
Yeah, I was going to say this might not your very first. And not just cynically play them for my stream. No, this is, ah no that's good. Yeah. One of the things I was thinking about, you these sound like they break away from maybe some of the more traditional structure of what adventure game looks like. and I was thinking kind of what in my head i was calling maybe neo-traditional adventure games, maybe that stick closely to maybe the classic pixel art aesthetic and more of the inventory-based puzzles and things like that.
00:51:13
Speaker
yeah was thinking of a game like, you know, in one of our early episodes, we talked about Locomotive right as as a game that very much clearly is drawing on inspiration from old LucasArts adventures, but telling a little bit more of a ah modern story with some of the modern conveniences of... ah Got a headline in it.
00:51:31
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Puzzles are a little bit more reasonable. You know, all those sorts of no deaths, no dead ends, all those sorts of things. um You know, another series, and admittedly, I'm only at the beginning of this series, but I can't help but think that, so you know, if you're looking for something that really feels like a newer take on these older games, you know, Blackwell, I think is, is a powerful ah recommendation there. I think that you could easily maybe grab some attention with Blackwell, something that has little bit more of a mature story with some humor woven into it and fairly traditional ah gameplay elements. And again, you've,
00:52:15
Speaker
you've experienced a lot more of the Blackwell games than I have. But how do you think about Blackwell as a starting point? I would say, actually, like if of like Dave Gilbert's games, I would probably, and like, I would say Unavowed,
00:52:33
Speaker
Oh, because because the thing with ah the the the Blackwell games is that as much as I love ah the first game, and I think it's great.
00:52:49
Speaker
ah You know, it's he's he's ah he's still kind of figuring out ah how to make a commercial ah indie adventure game. Because he's kind blazing a trail there. Yeah.
00:53:06
Speaker
Oh, for sure, for sure. And Unavowed, which was the game that he made after um he completed ah the Blackwell games, is is a game that really,
00:53:20
Speaker
like you know, kind of builds on all of like the design growth that you see across all of Blackwell and it's its own game. You know, it's not part of a series.
00:53:33
Speaker
And it also like, it it isn't an RPG, but it has like RPG elements in that ah it it was ah inspired by ah Bioware style games.
00:53:45
Speaker
ah style Yeah. Like party composition. So it's like you have your one main character that you're always with. And then you enter ah like little episodes and you get to pick ah who you bring with ah ah who you bring with you.
00:54:04
Speaker
And that could create different outcomes or different ah kind of puzzles. but. and but the the the game isn't again like eds as you said it's it's not very difficult uh like and uh there's a little bit of uh replayability or a fair amount because you know you can you can go and try it you also have like origins in it like you know like a dragon age yeah or like mass effect uh
00:54:39
Speaker
I don't know why I'm like, I'm i'm pretty high on games that ah bring RPG elements over, but I think that they just kind of provide like a nice little ease in.
00:54:53
Speaker
Yeah, I do. I mean, again, if the goal is to get someone who presumably has been aware of the existence of these games, but never chosen to play one, i think tapping into some of those you know, other genres isn't a bad way to get there.
00:55:08
Speaker
Yeah, i wonder, know, you talk about we've talked a lot about difficulty curve here. I mean, How effective might some of the games that, you know, have been called walking simulators be as an entry point to this genre? Or do they break the mold too much? Like, could you see Gone Home or Firewatch being like a springboard to playing more adventure games? Or they so their own thing?
00:55:35
Speaker
that nobody's going to go from fire watch to a more traditional adventure game i think i think that i love fire watch yeah yeah this isn't putting those those games down uh i think that they're not an entree to it like they might be an entree to it in like it's like well do you like you know kind of exploring a world and especially gone home is is uh like you're just kind of piecing together some detective like you're you're just looking through the house and like putting together stuff in your head uh
00:56:12
Speaker
ah And like, so there's a little bit of that, but I don't know if I would quite ah ah say that. Like, it's like, oh, you liked Gone Home? Check out Day of the Tentacles.
00:56:23
Speaker
That's right. I mean, what if you just like took this person who's like, I'm curious about adventure games and you just melted their fucking mind with immortality. You're just like, look at this. yeah This is where it's at, man. So yeah's my list, my list has her story. Yeah. i had that on mine as well.
00:56:44
Speaker
That is. Yeah. I got someone into her story. Okay, I like this.
00:56:52
Speaker
that i got into her story she said to me i like kept a journal and i was keeping ah ton of new And like, i was like writing down theories and like keeping track of words and doing that. And I was just like, damn, yeah like you played that so hard.
00:57:15
Speaker
And we've talked about her story on here before, but if anyone's not familiar, that's the Sam Barlow game where you are piecing together a bit of a mystery from found footage on a, on a computer.
00:57:27
Speaker
It is a, it's a wonderful bit of FMV adventure. And in the the way that you play it is ah that you search. There's this database that has all this video in it.
00:57:41
Speaker
And you can, what, search only one word? Is that right? ah it's been so long. Yeah, I'm blanking out. you You have, like, some limitations that will also only show you, like, the three top...
00:57:52
Speaker
ah video so essentially you are trying to piece together and a narrative um but you do not have the ability to make it linear we try everything's out of order you are just picking up clues from one a breadcrumb here and following it to the next bit which is something that immortality does in an even more mind-bending way another Sam Barlow game that follows up on I never played Telling Lies. i was Telling Lies. I need to play Telling Lies.
00:58:22
Speaker
I haven't played Telling Lies either. You know what? Yeah. make But her story was one that was on my list too. I think immortality might be too much for somebody. mean, immortality is definitely brain melter. I think you can get away with immortality. You just have to be someone that... like You have to recommend it to to somebody that likes...
00:58:47
Speaker
you know, ah spicy pepper games. That's right. You're going to play immortality. And then you're going like, what's next? And I'm going to hand you ah physical copy of Gabriel, not too.
00:58:58
Speaker
I'm going to this is your next full motion video adventure. Enjoy. And then you're going to be a fan for life. Yeah. Immortality. Then it's like Gabriel, not too.
00:59:10
Speaker
Now. ah Jess, did you put and me any games that are in the Telltale style?
Beginner-Friendly Titles: Life is Strange and Telltale Games
00:59:22
Speaker
Yes. So I think we have the same one. So which one did you put? Okay. I put Life is Strange. That's right. yes okay i have one other i'll also have another let's talk a lot of why is life is strange the right choice here i think life is strange is ah life is strange is my favorite game in that style um i have not played another one and i and i haven't played all the life is strange games so maybe i'll find it and you haven't played all the episodes of tales from the borderlands just recap that so yeah yeah well yeah we'll see um
00:59:58
Speaker
But, like, Life is Strange is, enjoy it more than most of the telltale, like, narrative, like, propulsive narrative ones. I think I do, too. Like, Choose Your Own Adventure.
01:00:15
Speaker
And I think a big part of it is, is that, Like, not only does it have a very engaging ah plot, which, you know, it is, as I would, like, as I've described it to my friends and maybe even on here, ah like, essentially a CW TV show.
01:00:35
Speaker
It's very melodramaculous. Yeah. Yeah. Is that is that a ah phrase, melodramaculous, or did you just trip on your tongue? No, I believe that's a Will Ferrell as George W. Bush. Very good. Melodramaculous.
01:00:49
Speaker
I like it. I like it. But it's used frequently in our family. team This teen melodrama that ah like with supernatural elements that is a lot of fun. it has like a couple annoying little puzzle things in it.
01:01:03
Speaker
i But they're there're they're more kind of tedious than they're hard. They're just kind of annoying. But... like It was a game that I could not put down when I was playing it. Every time I finished and ah an episode, it ended with such a perfect cliffhanger that I was like, I have to find out what happens next. I have to see what... like I finished Life is Strange over the course of a weekend, like just barreling through it when I bought it.
01:01:33
Speaker
And that's not a... that's not a like a regular thing for me as an adult like i don't generally have that type of like attention span or free time and i was just like i have to find out what happens and it's a decently long game when you're playing it episode to episode like that i mean it's uh yeah no that one is one that was definitely on my list too and i would agree i mean if if telltale kind of introduces this, this style of of narrative adventure game, you know, of course they have their earlier games, but walking dead is really when they, know, this, this style crystallizes for them.
01:02:12
Speaker
I think that life is strange takes that and arguably does it better than yet again, pretty much any telltale game. And then it has the advantage of it looks so good. That was, it that was the next thing I was going to say. Great music. The production but value is through the roof. A thing that I ah really like about it ah the most, and obviously the the telltales had this too, but the episodes all feel very directed. Like the camera moves around and they do interesting things with lighting and ah they're interested in where like the characters are all standing. Like it's, it's a very engaging piece of media. Yeah.
01:02:54
Speaker
And ah they're not the first to do it, ah but it felt like they like they they kind of had a breakthrough of how to really do it in a way that looks so good and engaging.
01:03:08
Speaker
Yeah, whereas like as I understand it, in the Telltale Game Engine, like if a designer wrote, you know Clementine picks up a baseball bat,
01:03:20
Speaker
they had to like crunch for seven months to figure out how to make a character pick up an item. So anyway it sounds like i think they were fighting their engine constantly and life is strange looks much more effortless than, than that. You know i was thinking, i was wondering like, is there a telltale game that right off the bat would be an easy recommendation? I mean,
01:03:42
Speaker
I think we both love the Sam and Max Telltale games, but I think they're going to be in maybe a little bit of that day of the tentacle territory of that's, that's hitting somebody too hard. I think the, the, the first season yeah is probably doable, but I like, I don't, it's also very like soda poppers are going to turn someone off forever from this genre. It's true. And I also think that, uh,
01:04:07
Speaker
like the license appeal for it is like for people that are familiar with the adventure game, even though like you don't need any of that context. And it's, it's made specifically to be inviting to people that haven't played it, but it still feels like, uh, you know, who's, who's, who's,
01:04:26
Speaker
You know, I wonder Wolf Among Us maybe to me. Yeah, you know, Wolf Among Us has that sort of fairytale fantasy vibe going on with it that I could see being appealing. yeah it's a slightly more mature story than...
01:04:41
Speaker
ah than some of Telltale's Fair. I can see that being one that might grab somebody. I mean, especially if they're already familiar with the source material, the fables, graphic novels and things like that. Again, ah way a Trojan horse that went in. But yeah, I think for that sort of Telltale style narrative adventure, maybe it's ultimately a non-Telltale game in Life is Strange that that maybe makes the most sense.
01:05:06
Speaker
uh so here's here's one this is also kind of outside of uh the dynamic but we're moving closer this has more puzzles this has inventory ah but but it is ah it is not like a a king's quest them up which is uh uh phoenix right any of the phoenix right games easy easy easy easy recommend massive audiences for that people love those games uh you know they have puzzles they have you know as i said it has an inventory it it is i have like some design uh like complaints uh about them but i think overall like they're just really really fun and full personality games and uh they're they're they're tricky they have you you're thinking phoenix right the
01:05:58
Speaker
you're not familiar, and I think if you're listening, you are, ah but like the the trial lawyer ah games, they're just a lot of fun. Have you ever played those?
01:06:10
Speaker
I've tinkered around a little bit with the first ace attorney just to kind get a sense ah of what it was all about. i didn't finish all the cases, but it's always a series I tell myself I should go back to because I found it very charming. I mean, it's ah it's almost as good as that LA Law game, and I played it start to finish.
01:06:29
Speaker
i I'm going wager that it's slightly better. I don't know, Ben. Did you watch the LA Law game? You know what? i didn't i didn't I only caught the beginning of it when you were still kind of skeptical.
01:06:41
Speaker
It was pretty good. i mean, again, just a Capstone, makers of Wayne's World and Beverly Hillbillies. We had a whole episode about Capstone and how terrible they are.
01:06:52
Speaker
They made an L.A. Law game that was halfway okay. um It wouldn't be how I would introduce someone to adventure genre. Whoa, we're halfway okay.
01:07:02
Speaker
Whoa, L.A. Law. Yeah, i don't know. It's not great. Yeah, well, you know, but neither is l L.A. Law. You said it was just pretty good, you know?
01:07:13
Speaker
Yeah, it was pretty good. I mean, pretty good for a capstone game is about the highest praise you can even receive. All right. Well, is there is there another one that you would recommend? i have a a couple more.
01:07:26
Speaker
Hit me with a couple more years. I'm running low on my list. Okay. so then i have also here. This is another game that is non-traditional, but it does have an inventory.
01:07:40
Speaker
kind of um which is uh 80 days by ankle which is one of my adventure i love 80 days and know you do think 80 days is such a great fun game i think it's such a smart design 80 days which is a adaptation of around the world in 80 days um It is a game where you are passed per two, um, uh, uh, fogs, uh, you know, Butler and the game is you arranging travel and
01:08:20
Speaker
a ah across the entire world and ah trying to to figure out how to get all the way back to London in 80 days. And it is ah enormous amounts of fun because there are all sorts of different routes.
01:08:38
Speaker
There are lots of different ah like little storylines that you can get yourself caught up in. uh there's um like there are a lot of like just straightforward puzzle puzzles including like there's one route where you end up in a like a agatha christie mystery and uh it ends with you have to like correctly deduce uh who uh like you know who killed the pilot of the zeppelin or something i forget
01:09:11
Speaker
oh But it is such an entertaining ah game that has ah very choose your own adventure flair, this interactive fiction flair that Inkle brings to their games.
01:09:27
Speaker
ah And it's just remarkably well written. It is so, so well written. ah The like, it is just a pleasure to to play it, to just read it.
01:09:44
Speaker
It's very clear. A lot of thought went into the the words. And I, I would, without any hesitation, recommend it to someone because it like for their first adventure game experience, because it uh it has a forward uh propulsion you're always going to be going to the next location and you could still like lose you can arrive you know after 80 days but you just keep going and you could restart and try again and the game wants you to experiment
01:10:20
Speaker
um And so I think like if if you're playing an adventure game for the first time, it's such a like it has difficulty to it. You can dig deep into it.
01:10:30
Speaker
There is like stuff hidden away in it. But at the same time, you can also play it and ah like just enjoy it as a like a piece of reading and just kind of pick places and be like, I think that would be good.
01:10:47
Speaker
You can enjoy it on either level. I'm shocked to learn that I own this on Steam already. so i believe It's probably a humble bundle like 15 years ago.
01:10:57
Speaker
I guess I'll buy it. I guess I'll play it. You've convinced me. Yeah, it's also it's a great cell phone game. ah like That's where I played it first. And then ah the last one I have down, and this is the most King's Quest-em-up of the ones that I had, but, and maybe, and maybe, you know, what this, this one might be a little too like this, this would,
01:11:22
Speaker
uh uh require someone uh to to to want something a little more weird but you know if you want something weird i would say weird drop i would say dropsy by jay tholen the game that he made before hypnospace outlaw it is a straightforward third person point and click adventure ah like with an inventory And at certain points you control like different characters, but ah number one, there is absolutely no ah readable text in the game.
01:11:57
Speaker
Everyone speaks in pictograms and it's also not particularly difficult. It's just a very straightforward and like friendly game.
01:12:10
Speaker
um Like I think it would be fun to have a kid try to play it. Yeah. and ah you know ah like I think the the strangeness of it and then the pictograms and stuff like that I think it would work well, uh, uh, playing it with a kid or the kid would be terrified.
01:12:32
Speaker
Um, I'll take either one or, you know, it might be something that scares the shit out of a child. Uh, either one.
Personal Stories and Episode Wrap-Up
01:12:40
Speaker
Jess, did I tell you that, uh, I am going to have, uh, several paintings of clowns in, uh, my home soon?
01:12:48
Speaker
No. some point. Tell me more about this. My my grandfather ah was a bit of raconteur. He worked all sorts of like kind of ah ah like various jobs around ah the the area that he lived.
01:13:05
Speaker
But he was ah like he had all sorts of like hobbies, like artistic hobbies, including he loved to paint. And there's in the house I grew up, there were all sorts of grand grandpa's paintings all over the house.
01:13:20
Speaker
And one of the things he loved painting because he lived in and around Bridgeport, Connecticut, where the Barnum and Bailey ah circus is from, like where like I think P.T. Barnum is from.
01:13:35
Speaker
ah He loved painting clowns. ah And so I, ah when I grew up in the house that I grew up in there was, when you walked in through the hallway, like the front hallway of of the house, there was, i think, four or five small clown portraits that ah my grandfather painted.
01:14:00
Speaker
um And they were like very different clowns. There was like a sad clown, there was like a happy clown yeah and there was like this like sport it was it was it's very different clown personalities and ah i've always loved these everyone else has always uh had interesting feelings about them and uh of my of my siblings i'm the one that has uh claimed i'm going to get the clown paintings uh so at some point I was just speaking with my mom.
01:14:31
Speaker
She said, yeah, yeah, we'll we'll send you the clown paintings at some point soon. and ah So at some point, going to have a bunch of ah ah historic ah family heirloom terrifying clown paintings that I'm going to put in my guest room.
01:14:47
Speaker
ah Ben, but first of all, I'd be I'm so happy for you. Yeah. um I think that's going to be great. ah You know, all I got when my grandfather ah passed away was a big crate of commemorative Elvis comeback whiskey bottles where it was shaped like Elvis and you could screw the head off and pour the whiskey out of it.
01:15:10
Speaker
um And that was pretty great, too. But you don't need like 30 of them is the problem. Yeah. Well, I'm going to have four or five clown paintings
01:15:24
Speaker
put in the room where if I'm hosting someone where they'll sleep, I'll be protected by clown magic. Clown magic. But anyway, Dropsy is great. ah Do you have any other games? Any other thoughts before we close the book?
01:15:41
Speaker
I closed the book. No, I think that our listeners should message received. I think our listeners should tell us if they've had any luck ever introducing an adventure game to a neophyte.
01:15:55
Speaker
ah Or if they think there are any games out there that we didn't talk about that are just the perfect entry point to this genre we all know and love. If you want to tell us about that, I mean, there are a few ways to do it. You could send us an email at quest quest podcast at gmail.com or Ben.
01:16:11
Speaker
You could leave and a comment, leave a comment on our our Spotify, or you could ah drop into our discord, which perhaps ah will be in ah the links with this episode. Maybe, or maybe not.
01:16:24
Speaker
We'll see. Anything could happen. There's a whole world of possibility. Endless possibilities. Oh yeah. Yeah.
01:16:36
Speaker
All right. Well, Marinara.
01:16:41
Speaker
uh well sauce uh alfredo keep going a fourth one great i so uh and be sure to give us a five star review that helps people find this podcast and and listen to it and let us know what a good ah first time player adventure game is yeah probably norco or like, ah you know, those text forward ones, those also pretty good.
01:17:09
Speaker
You know, I wondered about Norco. Is Norco a good pick? yeah Yeah. Norco's a good pick. I was just, I knocked Norco off my list because I was like, we have a whole episode that was Norco. So was like, we we don't need to do that one again. Gang, go play Norco. Yeah, Norco's great.
01:17:25
Speaker
um But five-star review, ah blah, blah, blah, emails. You got that. And join us next week where we're going to have a special episode where we discuss our favorite shapes of Kraft macaroni and cheese. Like, you know, remember the the Super Mario ones?
01:17:47
Speaker
like you like Elbow. yeah Elbow. Give me a break.