Video Game Music/OSTs Thread

[andrewwerdna]

crystallogic13

I went with the original Myst just because it was on sale on GOG for $3. I played for about an hour and basically figured nothing out except how to see the video message left for Catherine. I guess the main clue I gain from this is "remember the tower rotation." Ugh... So obviously this has something to do with rotating the tower through the map in the library, but without any further information I'm left to just point it at everything one-by-one, going and checking out what effect it has had each time. Maybe later...

I read all the books in the library and found the sequence of symbols reflected by the buttons outside the library. So I figured just press those buttons in the same order as the book, and I did so, twice to make sure I didn't mess up the first time. No luck, and without any further discernible clues I feel like there's nothing left to do now but trial and error.

It seems so bizarre to me that this game was the best-selling pc game ever in its time because it seems like it requires superhuman patience to beat without a walkthrough. And Riven is supposed to be even harder, right?

I'm thinking of following a walkthrough entirely without even attempting to solve the puzzles, just to experience the environments and story.

[dungeonsnake]

People really were far more patient back then I think. Just a different perception of time and computer entertainment. I managed to get to the second "world" in Myst but got frustrated after that.

[DieuxDesCimetieres]

Also, I think Myst was included in a lot of desktop bundles, which reflects on the sales numbers.

But I just talked about this on Friday with some colleagues at work. Games really WERE different back then, a lot more demanding and less forgiving. Not always in a good way, either. I mean, anyone who's grinded through games like classic Sierra and LucasArts games knows how frustrating they could be, especially the ones that were designed in a way that you could mess things up so you can't complete the game anymore, but the game never tells you.

[andrewwerdna]

I don't think any Lucasarts games had dead-ends except Maniac Mansion. And the puzzles were fair for the most part (except a few cases such as the infamous "monkey wrench," which is one of the few adventure game puzzles I remember really struggling with before giving in to checking a walkthrough, then being immediately pissed). Lucasart's philosophy is to thank for fixing adventure games imo, so they deserve no blame for taking a little while to figure it out. But look at Loom, that came out in 1990 and seems like it was released yesterday in how considerate it is to the player's time and attention.

Sierra games have fascinated me for a long time but I never really figured out what makes them fun. I remember playing King's Quest 5 and Police Quest 4 when I was a kid, but making any progress seemed impossible. And looking back and knowing about the dead-ends which were rife in Sierra Games, the worst sin an adventure game can commit, it seems utterly hopeless that I could've beaten any of those games at that age. Maybe as an adult with no other hobbies, but c'mon, having to replay a game without knowing you've hit a dead-end and no clue of where that dead-end might be does not sound like good way to spend one's free time. But they did have great art and atmosphere, and they deserve credit for basically inventing the graphic adventure.

[nahadoth]

That moment of looking at the walkthrough, seeing the leap of logic the player was supposed to take for the solution, and going from feeling stupid to feeling pissed in record speed, was a huge part of my adventure game experience. There were plenty of games I only beat with walkthroughs.

but I only really noticed it after spending some time binging some of the recent adventure games like those from the publisher Wadjet Eye. There’s usually at least a consistent set of mechanics throughout the game when it comes to puzzle solutions - compared to some of the older games where sometimes different puzzles seemed to exist in different worlds.

[andrewwerdna]

I love Wadjet Eye, been playing their games since the first Blackwell. I need to get caught up though. Heard a lot of good things about Unavowed so it's definitely up there on my list of games to check out.

Speaking of modern approach to puzzle solutions, a lot of newer adventure games do a much better job of signposting what the player needs to do and they often have some sort of in-game hint-system. I've been playing Thimbleweed Park recently and I think it does both of these excellently. Even though it's a pretty big area and you end up with a huge inventory, you never feel lost because each character has a "to-do list," basically like a journal in RPGs. And when you get stuck, they have a "hint-line" in-game by punching in a certain number on one of the phones, which doesn't outright give you the solution but should get you close enough that you don't need to give up and check a walkthrough. I hate that feeling from having to do that, but most adventure games I've played I end up having to do so at least once or twice.

Assuming you're playing a fair game without moon-logic puzzles, I recommend Universal Hint System as an alternative to walkthroughs, since you still feel like you're figuring it out for yourself to some extent.

[nahadoth]

Jun 17, 2019 10:01:03 GMT -5 andrewwerdna said:

I love Wadjet Eye, been playing their games since the first Blackwell. I need to get caught up though. Heard a lot of good things about Unavowed so it's definitely up there on my list of games to check out.

Speaking of modern approach to puzzle solutions, a lot of newer adventure games do a much better job of signposting what the player needs to do and they often have some sort of in-game hint-system. I've been playing Thimbleweed Park recently and I think it does both of these excellently. Even though it's a pretty big area and you end up with a huge inventory, you never feel lost because each character has a "to-do list," basically like a journal in RPGs. And when you get stuck, they have a "hint-line" in-game by punching in a certain number on one of the phones, which doesn't outright give you the solution but should get you close enough that you don't need to give up and check a walkthrough. I hate that feeling from having to do that, but most adventure games I've played I end up having to do so at least once or twice.

Assuming you're playing a fair game without moon-logic puzzles, I recommend Universal Hint System as an alternative to walkthroughs, since you still feel like you're figuring it out for yourself to some extent.

Unavowed is great. The puzzles are relatively lightweight compared to other WJE games but the story and character work is wonderful, and there’s lots of replay value.

I found the Blackwell Series got better from a story perspective as it went on, but worse form a design perspective. The final game in particular had some puzzles that just felt unfinished to me. But if you got through all those games, there’s some really nice nods to that story in Unavowed. Primordial, which was not developed by them but published by them, is probably one of my favorite modern adventure games. I’m so glad to be living in this revival era though, I was so bad at adventure games as a kid. Even couldn’t manage Full Throttle without a walkthrough, and that was one of the more forgiving of the classics, IIRC,

[andrewwerdna]

It's been awhile since I've played the Blackwell games so I can't comment on them too much, except that I remember all the puzzles being really good and if I had to use a walkthrough I blamed myself rather than the designer. I remember also really liking Resonance, Gemini Rue, and Emerald City Confidential.

Primordial is another one that's been on my list of games to play for ages, but I'll have to bump it up.

[andrewwerdna]

This is something wild I just discovered, an official soundtrack of the 1992 game Dune. I never played it, but I'm pretty sure the game itself just had midi soundcard music, and this is definitely not that. Kind of hard to describe but seems pretty cool so far a few tracks in.

[DieuxDesCimetieres]

Didn't listen to that soundtrack (yet), but yeah, I do remember the original Dune having pretty much what you'd expect from a computer game of the time as soundtrack. Midi and sound chip stuff. Great game tho, a pretty ingenious hybrid of adventure, war strategy and management, but with some pretty questionable design choices. One of which was that if you ploughed through the early stages too quickly (eg. knew what to do but not that you had to take your time in doing it, hah!), you could end up in a position where the game was impossible to beat due to having too little melange.

[andrewwerdna]

I looked into it a bit more and it seems there was a cd release of the game that had the digital music, but in 1992 maybe more folks experience the floppy release. I watched some videos on it, seems like a really ambitious game, would like to give it a try someday. Finished listening to the soundtrack and I think it's really excellent, a bit like the Blade Runner soundtrack, a bit like Kraftwerk, a bit like spacesynth, but still uniquely video gamey. I think this album is going to be in my rotation for a while.

[emerge]

Columns was a game I got into for a month or two, the music had a soothing quality about it. Listening again, it was neoclassical and somewhat DS-esque at times."Lathesis" especially had that peaceful classical lullaby sound. 

[DieuxDesCimetieres]

Jun 19, 2019 0:21:20 GMT -5 andrewwerdna said:

I looked into it a bit more and it seems there was a cd release of the game that had the digital music, but in 1992 maybe more folks experience the floppy release. I watched some videos on it, seems like a really ambitious game, would like to give it a try someday. Finished listening to the soundtrack and I think it's really excellent, a bit like the Blade Runner soundtrack, a bit like Kraftwerk, a bit like spacesynth, but still uniquely video gamey. I think this album is going to be in my rotation for a while.

Yeah, sadly it hasn't been re-released on neither GoG nor Steam. Would buy it in an instant. And probably realize very quickly that things evoking nostalgia are better left in the past

[crystallogic13]

I've been lost lately so need to catch up on a lot of nice interesting points :

Indeed Myst is in my opinion a difficult game, especially for this (busy) time and age, but its so magical and atmospheric it is certainly worth it. While I considered always myself a passionate adventurer/rpger, I never ever had second thoughts on looking at a walkthrough, or even better UHS that were already mentioned.. Both now and even back then, I never had the extreme patience to check for missed pixels in a point n click or frustrate over a maze or whatever.. I certainly wait, think , keep it for maximum of 30 minutes in my head and if I don't have a patience I move on to see the solution, no regrets. I actually thank God I'm over this thing because it certainly itches my OCD edge.. I play games to enjoy and since it is (*not* online) games vs the pc we're talking about I try to experience the game my pace and enjoy it really.. To get a grip, some of my favorite DOS era action games always were back then Xenon 2, Prehistorik and Arkanoid, on all of which I enjoed through the wonders of endless lives again and again from start to finish All in all, of course its a subjective matter and a lot of people like to push themshelves even in gaming, but everyone should play as he feels better really..
Since I'm at it, indeed Myst was given endless times free and in packages, for example my big box original release of I think Blackstone Chronicles which came out years later included inside Myst too..
And agreed, endless respect to Lucasfilms/Lucasarts for showing the world how great an adventure game could be without dead ends etc. (at least from Monkey Island onwards if I remember well, pretty sure Zak McKracken has dead ends but I haven't finished that one..)..

Also gonna check out Dune 1 VGM, strange how I never checked that one out.. Columns music (and sound effects for me..) made it even more enjoyable for sure.. Very smooth but antiquity sounding too..

[andrewwerdna]

Jun 30, 2019 8:35:26 GMT -5 crystallogic13 said:

Both now and even back then, I never had the extreme patience to check for missed pixels in a point n click or frustrate over a maze or whatever.. I certainly wait, think , keep it for maximum of 30 minutes in my head and if I don't have a patience I move on to see the solution, no regrets. I actually thank God I'm over this thing because it certainly itches my OCD edge.. I play games to enjoy and since it is (*not* online) games vs the pc we're talking about I try to experience the game my pace and enjoy it really..

When people reflect on their favorite adventure games, it's always the art, story, and music that is mentioned. I rarely see people mention the puzzles being what makes the game great. Usually the puzzles are only mentioned if they're bad. So what are we missing by even following a walkthrough from start-to-finish? Mainly pacing and that dopamine spike of figuring out a puzzle, but that's not really what most classic adventures games are about. There's too many games to play and too little time. Of course games with somewhat accessible puzzles like classic Lucasarts should be given a fair shake, but I think playing something like old King's Quest games without a walkthrough is just having something to prove.