[HN Gopher] Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars
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Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars
Author : doppp
Score : 112 points
Date : 2022-07-01 16:17 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.filfre.net)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.filfre.net)
| dudul wrote:
| That takes me back. Loved this game so much. Even the 2nd one was
| great. The 3rd one was average at best, and the 4th one very
| enjoyable. I haven't played the fifth installment yet.
|
| Comments are already full of great recommendations if you like
| these games, I would just add Runaway which, to me, was such a
| breath of fresh air at a time where point n clicks were kind of
| gone.
| khaledh wrote:
| Too bad that the adventure game genre faded after that period.
| Those that survived went for 3D rendering, which for adventure
| games just doesn't feel right. I'll always take an old 2D hand
| painted adventure game over a 3D one.
| throwyawayyyy wrote:
| This is definitely part of their fall. Everyone -- from
| producers to players -- _thought_ they needed 3D. But it's
| poorly suited to adventure games. Shadow of the Templars is an
| excellent example of this: new enough not to be pixel art; old
| enough not to be 3D. Perfect.
|
| Even the Monkey Island games turned 3D with the fourth
| installment. Having played through them all (again!) over
| lockdown, it's that game, Escape from Monkey Island, which now
| looks and plays the worst.
| rasz wrote:
| Nothing wrong with well made 3D, try playing The Book of
| Unwritten Tales.
| darepublic wrote:
| Went down a rabbit hole exploring the links on this blog.
| Engrossing stories, and I will never tire of story trope of the
| small company with a chip making an impact by following their own
| beliefs
| autophagian wrote:
| Distinct memory of having a painful conversation with my angry
| mum as a bairn, after I had racked up a hefty phone bill on one
| of those Game Walkthrough Help Lines while playing this game.
| acdanger wrote:
| Oh man, I had the exact same situation with my parents. Twice.
| I still squirm thinking about it.
| effingwewt wrote:
| When I was a kid and Super Nintendo was the new hotness, a
| friend and I loved 'Shadowrun'.
|
| A group of us had played various TT games over the years and
| loved video game adaptations but that one in particular was
| fantastic for an ARPG.
|
| We had for years wondered where a spell was that was listed
| in the manual.
|
| We tried everything, asked everyone we could think of, when
| finally we decided to call the Nintendo Power hotline,
| whatever it was called.
|
| The charges started immediately and as you listened to a
| recorded spiel.
|
| I think was several selections later we spoke with an agent
| who looked it up and informed us he could tell us for an
| additional fee. We agreed and he informed us the spell had
| been removed either prior to release or in the localization.
|
| We were devasated.
|
| Weeks later my Dad gets a call from my friend's parents. We
| go over and they explain they had a huge phone bill because
| apparently my friend had called them back asking all kinds of
| stuff for games, then it progressed to phone sex lines.
|
| Of course this was all my fault. So not only did I have to do
| yard work all summer to pay it down, but he got to enjoy his
| summer scott free.
|
| My question was how did they not know either time it was
| squeaky-voiced kids.
|
| I guess they didn't have to since all the commercials said
| something like 'kids must have parents permission to call'.
|
| Guess they got paid either way.
| keyle wrote:
| I completely had forgotten this title even existed. In fact, I
| don't seem to remember any of these titles except for Beneath a
| Steel Sky. And I played them all.
| thecosmicfrog wrote:
| If anyone hasn't played Beneath a Steel Sky, I can't recommend it
| enough. Its humour is some of the best writing I've seen in video
| games.
| michaelgrafl wrote:
| It's horror as well, if I remember correctly.
| thecosmicfrog wrote:
| I wouldn't call it horror. More of a parody of a dystopian
| future. One of the best point-and-click games I've played for
| sure!
| otachack wrote:
| And the recently released sequel is pretty well done,
| though it's a lot more PG-13 in my opinion.
| hiccuphippo wrote:
| And it's free, you can apt-get it.
| predictsoft wrote:
| Don't forget Retro Hour podcast of the guys who did Broken Sword
| and Beneath Steel Sky: https://theretrohour.com/beneath-a-steel-
| sky-revolution-soft...
| xbar wrote:
| "Indeed, I've probably already spent more time on the historical
| backstory of Broken Sword here than it deserves..."
|
| Not at all. What a great review of a beloved sub-genre. Sometimes
| I think about re-reading Foucault's Pendulum out of sheer joy at
| the memory. But then I usually get by with just recommending it
| to someone else who foolishly brings up anything in the Dan
| Brown/Indiana Jones space.
| fareesh wrote:
| Why hello George! What can I do for you now?
| nunodonato wrote:
| I need to play this game again... I really miss the good old
| times of adventure point-n-click games. Too bad we kind of lost
| the genre. My favourites were Monkey Island and the Indiana Jones
| series. There was always a good dose of humour in these games
| aspaviento wrote:
| I also want to recommend the Runaway series. They also have a
| catching story and charming characters
| bulbosaur123 wrote:
| What made the genre die out?
| mertd wrote:
| My guess is that point and click adventures are not very
| profitable. There are no in game trinkets to sell, they don't
| fit a subscription model. I guess you can slowly release
| "chapters" and sell them independently and some developers do
| it these days but the user churn should be high as there is
| almost no desire to replay once you complete a chapter.
| atombender wrote:
| I would argue that 3D games and consoles happened. People
| started demanding more from games: They had to be bigger,
| more immersive, visually more advanced. The niche gamers
| still existed, but the publishers didn't want to cater to
| them, for the most part.
|
| The Broken Sword series is actually notable for surviving
| this trend, by transitioning to 3D and being console-
| friendly.
|
| Fortunately, "the long tail" also happened, and the market
| has expanded in scale and improved ease of distribution
| (Steam, Itch, etc.) to the point that it's no longer true
| that every game has to be a big-budget "AAA" game; there's
| plenty of room for tons of niche stuff like adventure games,
| and it can be profitable.
| unixhero wrote:
| It isn't dead. New games have been coming out ever since it's
| proposed death back then and all the way through to today.
| zerocrates wrote:
| Much like other "dead" genres like the text adventure
| before it or the RTS after, the thrust of the idea that
| point-and-clicks are "dead" is that they were once firmly
| in the mainstream and are now niche.
| korijn wrote:
| There's been quite a resurgence, and they keep coming. Search
| on steam!
| hh3k0 wrote:
| In particular, Thimbleweed Park might be worth giving a shot.
| jokethrowaway wrote:
| It wasn't bad but I had to force myself to finish it. Same
| with broken age or the various "tales of" and deponia.
|
| The writing and puzzles are just not as great as monkey
| island 1-2.
|
| I enjoyed the rusty lake series and the journey down.
| korijn wrote:
| Not strictly point and click, but have you tried untitled
| goose game?
| dave84 wrote:
| New Monkey Island this year from Ron Gilbert.
| pkorzeniewski wrote:
| I recommend games from Wadjet Eye Games studio, they're really
| well made, with great story, voice acting, balanced difficulty
| and overall they feel like created in the 90s.
| nickv wrote:
| The Blackwell series from Wadjet is absolutely spectacular
| and 100% brought me back to that 90s adventure games feeling!
| Super recommend them too! (I also cried like a baby at the
| series conclusion)
| mike_hock wrote:
| Day of the Tentacle. Perfectly captures the height of the
| genre, or at least its first peak: Mature graphics given the
| technical constraints, 4th-wall-breaking self-deprecating humor
| (the game is a joke and it knows). Nothing is serious and you
| should be able to try anything and everything without any
| repercussions other than not progressing (if you don't, you
| might miss out on a joke).
|
| Broken Sword was the second peak, when stories became more
| serious and played more like an interactive novel. There are
| still jokes, but the game itself isn't one anymore.
| dr_dshiv wrote:
| Sam and Max Hit the Road deeply influenced my humor. Best
| game memory of my childhood.
| tannhaeuser wrote:
| Titles like these are on the App store for the original
| iPad/iPad mini, and there was a short renaissance of the genre
| on that platform ten years ago.
| mathnode wrote:
| Here is Charles Cecil doing a post-mortem talk at GDC:
|
| https://youtu.be/REKr5QvLR8o
| roenxi wrote:
| The real find here is that the listing on GoG
| (https://www.gog.com/game/broken_sword_directors_cut) includes
| _the original game_ as well as the one-finger 's-width inferior
| directors cut.
| atum47 wrote:
| I've just installed scummvm on my tablet and put beneath a still
| sky on it. That and broken sword are two games that I never got
| to play with the dedication is deserves. I'm trying to play a
| little bit before bed to see if I can finish them.
| pluijzer wrote:
| I installed ScummVM on my old tablet Turing it into a wonderful
| adventure game console. For me also perfect to play in bed to
| calm down a bit from a busy day. The games play wonderful in
| this form factor. Also I was pleasantly surprised that not only
| the old scumm games work on it but also some brilliant calssics
| like the Longest Journey and Blade Runner.
| ducktective wrote:
| I played the PS1 version of this game. The music, the atmosphere,
| the lore, the dialogs...This game is so memorable it has become
| part of my life experience as a human.
|
| From their 3rd installment they went with the 3d craze but the
| result was not as captivating. They returned back to 2d in 5th
| version but I still prefer their old style.
|
| Nowadays, games with a story-line as rich as this is very rare.
| Please recommend if you know any.
|
| LucasArts games series is too old for me (and I don't fancy their
| complicated interaction mechanics).
|
| I very much adore 18, 19 and 20th century European adventures
| with colorful styles. You know? Like Blake and Mortimer series,
| or The Adventures of Tintin.
| plankers wrote:
| played it on the gameboy advance, same experience. i can still
| remember a few of the hand-drawn scenes and (for a child)
| inscrutable puzzles. something about a runaway floor buffer.
| rasz wrote:
| Closest to Broken Sword I can think of would be Runaway series
| by Pendulo Studios, All three episodes are awesome.
|
| Anything published by Wadjet Eye is amazing - Blackwell series,
| Gemini Rue, Shardlight, Primordia, Technobabylon, Strangeland.
|
| The Book of Unwritten Tales 1, 2 and prequel are my absolute
| favorites.
|
| Harvey and Edna 1 and 2 are close behind. Deponia is supposed
| to be good, but I couldnt stand the protagonist :(. The
| Whispered World and A New Beginning were ok, but very German.
|
| Captain Morgane and the Golden Turtle is great. Its a prequel
| to So Blonde, havent played, made by lead designer of Broken
| Sword.
|
| A Vampyre Story is hilarious.
|
| The Longest Journey 1 and 2.
|
| Secret Files series.
|
| Syberia, altho it was too French/weird for me.
|
| >Like Blake and Mortimer series, or The Adventures of Tintin.
|
| you can try Jack Orlando: A Cinematic Adventure, except its
| located in US, but similar art style?
| otachack wrote:
| Same! It's amazing how much it holds up. I can still replay the
| original version from GoG (packed in the enhanced one) every
| year.
| have_faith wrote:
| > games with a story-line as rich as this is very rare
|
| The best story focused game I've played recently-ish is Disco
| Elysium. Great artwork too.
| unixhero wrote:
| A fantastic game, engrossing story, handpainted graphics and real
| world locations.
|
| The non English editions have fantastic voice acting too.
|
| Heck I even travelled across Ireland motivated by what I
| experienced in the game. The game story was very on point with
| regards to Ireland :). Paris is factual too.
|
| 10/10 would recommend.
|
| I for one am replaying it for the third time in a third language,
| challenging but not a waste of time for learning, as it is so
| well done.
| mike_hock wrote:
| Oh yeah, voice acting.
|
| The characters in Ireland all have Irish accents. Check.
|
| In Syria, the characters all sound Arabic. Check.
|
| Most of the Parisians have a French accent. Check. But the
| thugs outside the Ubu have New York accents (OK, clearly an
| intended joke), the receptionist at the hospital has an
| American accent (iirc). Come to think of it, no-one in the
| hospital has a French accent, do they?
|
| And the de Vasconcellos lady (in Spain) has a British accent
| for some reason.
| unixhero wrote:
| In Spanish all the French locations have Spanish spoken
| vocals on fremch-spanish accent, really impressive attention
| to detail.
| mrwh wrote:
| +1 to this! I played it in French for this reason.
| norwalkbear wrote:
| It's amazing how well broken sword 5 captured the art style of
| the earlier games, compared to return of monkey island.
| saiya-jin wrote:
| Ah good memories, this is type of gaming i enjoyed a lot.
|
| I recall some article that some small French town where part of
| the game happened had massive bump in tourism after the game came
| out. In times where computer gaming was mostly looked on as weird
| geek hobby for few.
| nix23 wrote:
| Same with gabriel knight 3... the tourists i mean.
| [deleted]
| predictsoft wrote:
| Don't forget AdvJam 2018 (or other years) which have dozens of
| small games that actually are excellent. Favourite game is Spy
| Quest which emulates Sierra games of old. You can get AdvJam
| walkthrough videos on YouTube.
| iotemm wrote:
| Thanks for the find! This was one of the first adventure games I
| laid my hands on as a young boy. Lent it from a neighbour and it
| immediately captured me. One of the aspects that were most
| intrigueing to me, was, that compared to other PaC-adventures
| that I had played, there were several situations, in which George
| could actually die. This gave the game a dynamic and immersion,
| that I hadn't experienced before. Which was, of course, partly
| due to the game selection I had played before. Nevertheless, I am
| glad to be reminded of this gem!
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