Vespyr:I’ve been disappointed by a lot of my console game experiences lately, so when I heard about some casual RPG games, I was curious. What exactly does it mean for an RPG to be “casual”? Would these games have adaptations designed for the largest demographic in the casual game market, mainly middle-aged females? It was certainly worth investigating.
The first casual RPG I played was Dream Chronicles, a Myst-inspired game in a self-proclaimed art nouveau style. It opens outside the browser, filling the screen. It opened with a simple cutscene that panned over fantasy illustrations in the style of history movies I watched in school, with a more whimsical approach. The cutscene introduced the main story, about a deep sleep settling over the land. It hinted toward the theme of magic and fantasy in a lovely world.
When you gain control, you can click on many areas of the lovely background. Clicking is the basic interface. You play as a woman whose husband has gone missing, while your daughter and the whole town in under a sleeping spell. Most main characters in games are not middle-aged women, so the simple character choice strongly implies that this game was designed to appeal to women with husbands and younger children.
I clicked and clicked, as each room was a little puzzle to solve. Many were in the style of I Spy, where you would be searching for things that were somewhat camouflaged. I often wouldn’t know what I was looking for; it knew it was a key but I had no idea what it looked like or what color it would be. This type of puzzle led me to do a lot of random clicking, as it was often faster than searching. This type of mechanic did make the RPG a lot easier, especially since the puzzles were often contained on one screen, unlike the frustrating Myst. However, each screen would give a new task that felt more like an errand, making the game seem somewhat repetitive.
For a casual game, I was surprised by the amount of attention this game required. While there was no timer or real sense of urgency, so the game could be left sitting for long periods of time, it was still a full-screen game. The “casual” label for this game was probably due to the fact that it is more simple and easy to pick up. It also does strongly seem to be tailored to the middle-age women audience, from the choice of the mother as a protagonist to the fantasy music reminiscent of a Disney score.
As a hard-core RPG player, I can’t say that I would pick up an RPG like this for fun. I realize that it was not made gamers like me who crave complex, customizable RPGs with epic stories. For those not familiar with RPGs, this game would be a great introduction to the genre. It has a lovely art style and simple gameplay that may be fun for those who would not otherwise consider themselves “gamers.” I can see how Dream Chronicles may be just the escape some mothers would be looking for from their daily routine.
Jettoki:
I was a huge fan of Myst, back when I was eleven years old and adventure games still dominated the PC market. I preyed on LucasArts masterpieces like Secret of Monkey Island and Loom, and I even put together my own click-interface adventure game using PowerPoint. The idea of exploring a realistic virtual world and solving puzzles got me drooling. "This is the future of games," I thought, "and in just ten years, they'll be rendered in full 3D!"
As it turns out, adventure games were being developed with 3D engines just four years later (i.e., realMyst), but they received little attention or fanfare. This is because the majority of adventure gamers understandably moved online when games like EverQuest appeared, offering not only immersive 3D worlds but also endless hours of gameplay and quests that could be shared with thousands of other players. By the time World of Warcraft ascended to Myst-like levels of popular awareness, the older game had long been considered a relic.
Dream Chronicles doesn't change much, and in fact, it feels like a watered-down version of Myst, albeit with some pretty decent artwork. I understand that this is a casual game and that the puzzles are therefore simpler than what you would normally expect from the adventure genre, but for heaven's sake - I completed a dozen adventure games before I graduated elementary school. Puzzles don't need to be simplified this much. As Vespyr described it, the gameplay feels very much like I Spy, and I'm curious how many people will find it invigorating or entertaining.
This is not to say that the game doesn't have its market; the story seems pleasant enough and will probably appeal to the intended demographic. But in that case, it's hard to justify making this game a full-screen experience. This game does nothing that couldn't be accomplished within a browser using Flash. Doing so would make it all the more accessible to the crowd it targets; busy mothers and working women. There are some missed opportunities here - were the game browser-based, one could add new content monthly and charge a subscription fee.
Finally, it's impossible for me to assess any new adventure game without some comparison to the highly-successful and well-written Sam & Max series now being distributed through Steam. (Take a look here.) Telltale Games decided to develop the series using a low-risk episodic model, releasing one title about every two months and offering discount bundles for older episodes. The short length of each episode, together with the attractive pricing and passing difficulty, make the Sam & Max series appealing to a casual crowd without turning off core gamers looking for a satisfying experience. This, to me, seems like the smartest direction for modern adventure games.
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