Discussion Point: Costumes

Written by The TAG Team

Halloween is nearly upon us, for those of us who celebrate it.  In many places, including the United States, it’s a holiday that celebrates people dressing up in disguises, and begging strangers for candy.

Because really, what could be better than free candy?

But the costume part isn’t just for children in autumn.  It’s also a puzzle source for adventure games!

So, in honor of the holiday, let’s talk about your favorite costumes donned by our game protagonists in order to solve a puzzle, trick a foe, and win the game.

For example, an early Sierra example might be Police Quest 1, where Detective Sonny Bonds goes undercover as a pimp named Whitey to infiltrate a drug ring.

Another early example, Zak McKracken, needed glasses to look like the aliens making us all dumber.  This is, of course, before the internet.  We now do it to ourselves.

In a recent game played for the blog, bookseller Gabriel Knight dressed as a priest to extract information from a voodoo practitioner, and then as a wild animal to crash a ritual.

And there are many others.  So, which ones are your favorites?

State of the Blog - 2025 - and Ideas for the Future

Written by The TAG Team

Which way should we go?

The Adventurer’s Guild started nearly 13 years ago, lovingly inspired by another blog, the CRPG Addict.  Over the years, both blogs have been covering a loose timeline of games in their respective genres.

So when Chet, the chief bottlewasher at CRPG, started to have concerns over the pace of his blog lately, it made us take a look at ourselves as well.

We started the gaming year of 1993 over eight years ago, and haven’t really finished it.  Even though we’ve started a few games from 1994, it is unlikely that we will even start 1995 in the next decade, at the pace we’re playing.  For those of us who read Trickster’s review of The Secret of Monkey Island 11 years ago, wouldn’t it be nice to come full-circle and read the reviews of the Telltale episode games and the Ron Gilbert reboot from a couple of years ago?  At the current rate, we will never get there in our natural lifespans.

Some of us would like to see a broader selection of games.  It’s not helping that many of our past reviewers have had changes in their real-life situations that have interfered with their prior commitments to the blog.  We have been just as dissatisfied as the readers with the slow pace of posts over the last handful of months.

So, we have a few ideas.  None of these are set in stone, we want your feedback and other ideas.  Because we love this blog, and don’t want it to fail.  Right now, it’s having a little bit of trouble.

• One idea that has been suggested before is an emulation of the “BRIEF” at CRPG.  A single post for a game, where a reviewer installs the game, plays it for a little bit, researches past reviews of the games, and posts a comprehensive account.  No score issued, but the game gets the attention.  This would be great for some of the “lesser” titles that often get relegated to "Missed Classic" status, but also would be an option for some of the games on our playlist that no one is rushing to volunteer to play.

• Are there still readers out there who might be interested in writing these smaller, less comprehensive posts?

• This would also be great for some of the disregarded or borderline titles.  Someone paid CAPs to force someone to review MTVs Club Dead, for example, but no one wants to play it.  Given how little time some of our reviewers have, is this really a good use of their time?

• Chet also suggested limiting the number of games per year, and cycling back through the years later to catch up with the ones that are missed.  While it may be too late to do that for 1994, it’s a thought.  Cover most of the mainline games, but only some of the borderline/disregarded titles.  A lot of those titles have bogged down the blog over the years, in the opinions of some, and based on the comment activity on the posts, they are sometimes less favorably received.

• Should we make our review posts less detailed?  Most of our posts now are narrated walkthroughs, but that wasn’t always the case.  Back in the early days, Trickster left out a lot of details, and most games were finished in about two gameplay posts.

• Even the comments on Chet’s post brings up some interesting points.  We’re quoting a few because we’d like some feedback.  Are these valid thoughts about our own blog?

• “To be honest it has been a while since you played a game I found really interesting. Sure, it is sort of interesting what kind of rather unknown games are out there, but a lot of them are just not that interesting.”

• “I'd also suggest that it makes even more sense to focus on 'particularly notable, fun, or important'”

• “Being mechanical about covering every obscurity in order would just mean missing out on more recent obscurities in favor of older ones”

• Should we tighten the standards for the games we play?  We’ve sometimes become very loose, for example, with games without an English-language release.  Do people enjoy reading the entries where the entire game has to be translated for them?  

Maybe some of these ideas can help solve the problem of reviewers not having enough time to blog through enough games each year.  

Please, please comment below with any ideas or suggestions you have, or thoughts about the ideas above.

Discussion Point: Game Plots

Written by The TAG Team

How to keep track of it all?

There's been some games with some pretty convoluted plots, some with simple ones.  Which are the ones that stick out in your mind?

What's your favorite plot?  Is it something simple, like a man in outdated clothing styles trying to hook up with many ladies?  Or perhaps something more complex, like a college student discovering the role of magic in the world and having to bounce between the ordinary and the mystical in order to restore balance to the universe?

What was the best premise for a game?  Or the biggest let-down?

Discussion Point: The Best Presents

 Written by The TAG Team

Now that the holidays are over, let's talk about the loot you've gotten over the years.  Remember when you were a kid, opening up presents on Christmas, Hanukkah, your birthday, or another occasion?  How about the joy of being given a big box, the mystery (and perhaps anxiety) over what might or might not be in it?

Did it ever turn out to be a game?  Or some new, upgraded hardware to play those games with?  What was the best gift like that you've ever gotten?  Or, if you're a better person than we are, the best game or hardware you've given someone else as a gift.

Regale us with "los regalos" from holidays past in the comments below!

The Year Ahead - 1994

 Written by The TAG Team

Sadly, "It stinks!" could be said about way too many of the games Morpheus has played.

1994 was a year of missed release dates.

Discussion Point: Interesting Inventory Items

Written by The TAG Team

You are carrying: Nothing.

An adventure game wouldn’t be an adventure without a character walking around and picking up anything he sees that isn’t nailed down.

So, what’s the most unique item you’ve picked up in a game?  Or the funniest?  Or the most disgusting?

Maybe something grosser than the mucus of Largo LeGrand from a pole in the bar?

Sometimes, items are homages.  Larry Laffer starts his first game with lint in his pocket because of Infocom games.  There’s a monkey named Guybrush you can interact with in The Longest Journey.

What items stand out in your memory?

Ten Years After: The Anniversary of the TAG Community Blog

 Written by The TAG Team

A DeepAI rendition of the TAG offices

The TAG blog is growing up.  In November, it will become a teenager!  But the most amazing thing is that the blog nearly didn’t make it to its third birthday.  The original blogger, Trickster, retired just before the 3-year mark.  This is the story of the ten years that have passed since.

Trickster might have taken on too much early on.  His blog (then called “The Adventure Gamer”) tried to keep pace with the blog that inspired it, CRPG Addict.  But writing about RPGs isn’t nearly as taxing as a well-crafted adventure game, since there’s more plot development to discuss, more unique actions to consider.  Many RPGs involve grinding away at the same skills, exploring lands for treasure, and fighting creatures, sometimes over and over to reach a goal.  

We’re not debating which one is more fun (although we have our opinions).  We’re just saying that one is easier to write about than the other.

Most of the readers of his blog were disappointed when he left.  But some of the commenters also suggested a takeover by the readers.

Perhaps the first to say this out loud was loyal reader Rowan Lipkovits, but others soon joined in the conversation.  Including some names that should be familiar to current readers of the blog.

Another loyal reader and frequent commenter, Ilmari Jauhainen, started to make a plan.  Instead of just one person at the helm, a handful of people would be sharing the duties, so this time, no one would get overwhelmed.  He was soon joined by Joe Pranevich and TBD; and Aperama volunteered to review the next game in the schedule. He made the first post of that review ten years ago today, on October 24th, 2014.

And so began a new era.

The blog was reborn as a community project, with online calendars and email chains helping to coordinate the efforts of people who had never before met each other in person, from all corners of the globe.  Over time, small changes were made to the structure of the blog, like occasional diversions playing “Missed Classics” that were skipped in the chronology of the blog. We've tried to shake up the mold a little. by even having done simultaneous posts with other blogs for games that cross over into both of our interests, such as Loremaster and Lucifer's Realm. We've even had multiple reviewers tackle a game at once -- an unforgettable experiment, one we should really try to do again.

More than 200 games later, we’re still chugging along, and most of the early admins are still involved with the blog, and some of the original reviewers and commenters as well.   

• Ilmari, even as he’s grown up and has more family and work responsibilities, still enjoys playing games for the blog, like the recently completed Inca II.  

• Joe is the father of the Missed Classic, playing the first one, Mystery House, soon after the reorganization of the blog. Over the last decade, he has built up a family in that time, and still stays connected with the blog, around his commitments.  He’s taking a short leave of absence, but will be back in the coming year, if only because there’s no way he would ever leave his Zork and Infocom marathons unfinished.  

• The next addition to the admin team, Will Moczarski, is in the middle of a playthrough for the blog as we speak.

• We’ve lost touch with TBD, but thank him for all the work he did shaping our style in those early years.  Some of us have fun emulating his humor in our CAP distributions to this day.

• The arresting skills of our in-house lawyer reviewer, Alex, continues to this day.  His first review was over nine years ago, and his take on Open Season just started a few days ago.  Unfortunately, that means that Jim Walls has also been a companion on the blog for so many years.

• Other reviewers over the past decade have come and gone, but Reiko and Zenic Reverie have still kept involved, both finishing their most recent games over this past summer.  

• Commenter (and occasional reviewer) Andy Panthro still provides valuable insights, and we hope he will still be able to finish his next (but long-ago scheduled) game on the schedule.

• Our commitment to the holidays remains strong. Next week, Morpheus will continue our tradition of honoring Halloween, and Joe has made sure we enjoy an adventure each Christmas. We've observed many April Fool's Days and other holidays as well.

We’ve injected some new blood into the mix (Admins MorpheusKitami and Michael, and Reviewer Vetinari) and, after a little lull during the pandemic, have just had our strongest year since. This year, we’ve written the most posts since 2019, and have had a lot of fun doing it!

In about a month or so, we’ll have over 5 million views on the blog.  Trickster celebrated milestones like 50,000, but who knew how big the project would grow?

On behalf of the entire TAG Team, we’d like to thank you for being here.  Everyone contributes in their own way; some comment, some write reviews, and others who just read the reviews, well, we need you too!  (Although we really wish you’d comment, just to help us guide our writing...)  Ilmari touched upon it in a blog birthday post back in 2017, but it bears repeating: we are constantly trying to reinvent TAG, to keep it fresh for the readers and reviewers both, and keep it going for decades to come.

We’re getting ready to start picking out the games to be played for 1994 on the blog, and look forward to you joining us.  

Yours in Gaming,

- The TAG Team, 2024 Edition

- Ilmari, Joe, Will, Morpheus, and Michael

Please, we’d love to hear your thoughts about the ten years past and the future as well in the comments below.

Discussion Point: Modern Adventures

 Written by the TAG Team

One of the most well-known adventures of the new century, but there's been others.

In our blog posts, we've focused on the past.  30, 40 years ago, during the so-called Golden Age of adventures.  But while the genre slowed down after that, it didn't stop completely.

What are your favorite adventures from the past 20 years?  Perhaps even ones that the other commenters have never heard of.  While everyone has likely heard of games like Thimbleweed Park, SpaceVenture, and Hero U, there have been others.  Something not written by one of the household names of the 90s?  A great Kickstarter you were happy to be a part of (unlike, say. the experience with SpaceVenture?)

Have no worries of spoiling our appetites for these games -- the blog won't be getting to them anytime soon.  But it might give us something to play in-between posts.

TAG by the Numbers

Written by The TAG Team

With the final post for Myst, our blog has continued to grow and review many memorable games, some forgettable ones, and also some regrettable ones.

So a quick look back at what we’ve done so far (as of August 3rd):

We’ve played 274 games, not including the ones in progress right now.  The breakdown:

• Games played by Trickster (the early years of the blog): 45

• Guest Reviews during the Trickster era: 2

• Main line games after the blog became a community effort: 96

• Missed Classics, which started after Trickster retired: 131

Out of these games, only 4 weren’t completed. Three have a status of “Abandoned” and another “Indefinitely Delayed”.

• The first one was Captain Blood, which Trickster abandoned after 9 hours and very little to show for it.

• Another was a missed classic by one of our early, more (ahem) colorful commenters, Kenny McCormick. The Scoop, a mystery game with an advanced (for the time) interface.

• Next was Wonderland, played by another past commenter, The Mad Welshman.  Circumstances beyond their control caused them not to be able to finish the playthrough.

• Ilmari played Freedom: Rebels in the Darkness, and was unable to finish the game most likely due to a technical reason.

Which means we have a 98.5% completion rate, which isn’t too shabby!  (We do have rules for reviewers abandoning a game after a certain number of hours, but we tend to be masochists and stick with it.)

Who's keeping score? We are, with an average score of 40 awarded to the games. The most common score? 30, given to 15 different games. The highest rated game? That's over in the left-hand column, along with the rest of the top 10. But some other notables:

• The lowest rated Missed Classic? Drive-In Adventure, checking in at 7. That beats the lowest main game, Psycho, which at least hit double digits for 10.
• The highest rated Missed Classic? Would you believe it's one of Morpheus's recent Japanese-language conquests? Urotsukidoji came in at 57.

If we break it down by game type, Main Line games average about 48, and Missed Classics about 31.

Not counting Trickster, 20 reviewers have played 229 games.  Later this month, it will have been exactly ten years since Trickster’s last review, marking a transition to our current blog.  Two months later, Aperama set the standard for all reviews to follow with their take on Countdown.

Our top reviewers?  Tied for first place for completed Main Line games are admins Joe Pranevich and Ilmari Jauhiainen with 13 each, but if we count Ilmari’s unlucky attempt at Freedom, he takes the top with 14.  Tops for Missed Classics?  Joe Pranevich with 58.

As for interacting with the readers, the blog has posted 1595 entries (including this one), and the readers have commented over 28,000 times. That's an average of 17 comments per entry. There's no easy way to verify this, but it appears that the introduction post for Day of the Tentacle is our record holder, with 161 comments, and all the entries in that playthrough combine for a really impressive total.

As a way to meet and greet the readers, Trickster started a tradition of having them answer a few questions for the blog.  The feature titled “What’s Your Story” has 54 responses.  Is yours one of them?  If not, please look over on the left-hand side of this page, a little bit down, and submit yours!

And if you’ve already taken the time to do that, then we can talk about time a little.  The longest game we’ve played?  Well, technically, when one reviewer took over for another on a review of The Legacy: Realm of Terror.  But to keep it fair, let’s skip that one, and go to the 36+ hour ordeal that was Dungeon.  Well, maybe not ordeal, because it looks like Joe enjoyed it, but... wow.

Short games?  There’s a handful of missed classics that didn’t even last an hour, but the shortest main line game played for the blog was 1992’s Putt-Putt Joins the Parade, clocking in at just under an hour.

As for reading the blog?  You'd think that the most-read post would be for one of our high scorers, but instead it's Alice in Wonderland, with a below-average rating of 33. 

Speaking of numbers, it seems our time here is numbered, so tell us your thoughts!

Discussion Point - Best Sequels

 Written by The TAG Team

No, this movie is NOT better than the original.  But the image was a good match for this blog post.

We all have our favorite games, out favorite designers, and favorite series.  But, sometimes they don't start out strong.  Which adventure game sequel came out that was remarkably better than the original?

Tough, right?  Usually they mess things up in sequels.  In movies, for example: Back to the Future 2.  But sometimes they get it right, taking something good and rolling with it.  For example, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit took the idea of role-reversal and make the game so much better by letting you be the cop instead.

Thoughts?

Missed Classic Spreadsheet, Rarities and Unplayables

Written by the TAG Team

We need more games to play.

Since we included a spreadsheet for readers to put in your suggestions for missed classics, we've gotten a rather modest 20 titles over the years, not including games that have been covered and removed, like Zombi or The Hound of Shadow; It's been a great resource, but recent events have suggested it could be a lot better.

There's not really a place for people to discuss these, and to some of us it seemed better that this be in a central place than randomly thrown about other entries. To this end we will occasionally asking for help, like Ilmari asking for the Peruvian version of Emanuelle (It completely changes everything!) or Morpheus asking if anyone knows how to get an Oric game running. (He's learning that Franscois!)

We've also made a few adjustments to the spreadsheet format, which ties into another ask. We ask that you be careful with links to where we can find the game. Generally speaking, we don't care if it's outright free, but abandonware is tricky. If you can't find it by searching for it on most search engines or if it's tricky to find on a search engine, add it, because we'll probably be asking about that anyway. We don't need, say, links to EA games or some major company even if they don't sell it. We can find them easily and when the Franchise Wars start up, we don't need to be among the first marked for an EA death squad.

But more importantly, we're adding two categories, time added, and sub-genre. You don't need to get into too much detail in the first, just month and year, so we know how long something's been there, we also ask that in the future people don't add their names, just to ensure we aren't biased by certain suggestions.

The second, sub-genre is where the ask comes in. Here, we'd like to know about graphic adventures that we've missed. 1992 and earlier. Not text adventures with pictures, graphic adventures, as it can be hard to find information on harder to find games. It's not like text adventures or VNs, which have their own dedicated sites, or ADV (Japanese-style adventures) which you can easily figure out about. Oddities are also appreciated.

This is also a great place for you to discover new games yourself, and if you feel up to the challenge, play a little and try writing a post of your own for the blog.  Some of us enjoy reading about the conquests of others, and some like sharing the details themselves.  

This post is going to be linked in the sidebar of the page, where the spreadsheet link previously was.  It'll be an easy resource to find and discuss these overlooked and truly Missed Classics.

Discussion Point: How Would You Change The Game?

By The TAG Team

Here’s a tough game of “what-if”:

We’ve all played games at times and said, “if only they had done this instead of that.”  Or maybe just thinking of a new twist on something to breathe more life into it.

For example:  What if they remade Police Quest 1, but from the point of view of Jesse Bains?  Like, perhaps, an adventure game version of Grand Theft Auto.  There’s probably not too many adventure games that make you sell drugs to win, right?

Or, how about the other direction?  After all, they already made a card game version of The Oregon Trail, how about a tabletop role-playing game of The Secret of Monkey Island?  A roll of the dice determines how many bananas you’ll need to make a monkey wrench...

Yeah, this is a tough one -- but we’re sure you have some ideas.