Enchantermon on 4/7/2010 at 18:49
Echoing Zork and King's Quest.
theBlackman on 4/7/2010 at 19:04
I vote for the first ever. Colossal Caverns was a game that lived on the MIT and STANFORD systems and really was the First computer game.
Simple text and available only to the computer geeks, it found its way into the world and is the father (if you will) of all the games we now play.
Sulphur on 4/7/2010 at 19:06
Agree with that and mentioned it for the same reasons, tBM. ;)
Pardoner on 4/7/2010 at 19:18
Quote Posted by dethtoll
It pains me to say this, but, better pseudo-intellectual than anti-intellectual.
Yes.
Alpha Protocol probably belongs somewhere on that list. If only for the 'rapid-dialogue' system, and general non-linearity.
The Void for gesture based casting that was integral to NPC interaction.
Also, Terra Nova had an excellent mission-cutscene-mission schema, prior to Thief, as well as a dedicated player e-mail terminal used to deliver narrative elements.
theBlackman on 4/7/2010 at 20:13
Quote Posted by Sulphur
Agree with that and mentioned it for the same reasons, tBM. ;)
I saw and just wanted to emphasis that. The start of the entire industry. PONG, of course, the first with visuals, and the start of interactive games.
The good old days were just that, OLD! :cheeky:
Al_B on 4/7/2010 at 20:26
I thought that (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacewar!) spacewar from the 60s laid down the foundations for interactive games. I don't think you could shoe-horn it into a work about game narratives, though :).
Dresden on 4/7/2010 at 21:27
Final Fantasy 8!? Are you crazy? That game's story was terrible.
I'd add the Gabriel Knight games to that list. If you haven't played them, you're missing out. Historically important? Maybe not, but it beat Da Vinci Code to the punch and was far more intriguing.
I think Roguelikes, particularly Dwarf Fortress, deserve honorable mention for letting you create your own little personal life-to-death stories.
Kaleid on 4/7/2010 at 22:12
Zeno Clash
Zeno uses in medias res well and is kind of odd... it also jumps back and fort in time giving further details as the player progresses on.
Malf on 4/7/2010 at 22:32
I'd say that the Marathon games should sit in there somewhere too; no dialogue per se, but the brilliance of it was how it made you feel like you really were Durandal's puppet. And the way they played with some of the terminals later on in the games was great. Plus, the game didn't stop while you were reading, which added an element of panic to the game.
