Highbrow games?

[SCO]

Anyway, since you consider cyberpunk juvenile, you won't like this one, but it is unusual:

Blade Runner: a adventure with 10 different endings, selected randomly and from some actions you do. Some of the voice actors are originals from the movie, and the plot happens at the same time as the movie plot though it never touches (for instance, Rachel appears as the secretary of Tyrell Corp.)
(this one is a good lp candidate).


Similarly, King of the Dragon Pass has the same dilemma for you... a tribal themed historical strategy game (randomized simulation/choose your own adventure/strategy) that is quite excellent, but has silly parts (real magic, monsters, fantasy) because of the underlying setting ( was it the Dark Eye? Can't recall).

 

[muckguppy]

I tried getting into bloodnet the other day,

it was fucking strange.

Kind of like uhh, That game based on that book by that poofter Ray Feisty.

but with a fatter map and looser bitches.

 

[KalosKagathos]

Thanks for this thread, guys. I'll make sure to avoid games listed here.

 

[SCO]

No prob dude, glad i could help.

 

[SCO]

I tried getting into bloodnet the other day,

it was fucking strange.

Kind of like uhh, That game based on that book by that poofter Ray Feisty.

but with a fatter map and looser bitches.

Terrific interface right

There is a good (vampire) adventure/rpg buried underneath, like a less accessible QFG.
I miss these hybrids. IE-likes just don't have enough item interactivity (even torment eschewed puzzles, and no puzzle is solvable by casted spells since forever)

 

[Stainless Veteran]

Did OP meant conceptual indie games, like Dear Esther, Today I Die, The Path, The Graveyard, etc., etc?

 

[SCO]

Oh yeah, "Facade" too.

 

[baronjohn]

Did OP meant conceptual indie games, like Dear Esther, Today I Die, The Path, The Graveyard, etc., etc?

I don't think there's any objective definition of what a highbrow game is... it is what you think it is. That said, I am more interested in cold, analytical games rather than games that primarily try to evoke some sort of emotion, which is what you seem to have listed.

 

[Trash]

Tetris is aesthetically and artistically sound. It's apparant simplicity hides a depth which will astound and compound you.

 

[MRSA]

Alter Ego.
Replay your life from the very beginning to the bitter end.
Not high brow enough for you?

 

[Stainless Veteran]

Alter Ego.
Replay your life from the very beginning to the bitter end.
Not high brow enough for you?

Oh man, I remember this game. Got it on some games compilation CD and played the shit out of it, despite that that was already VGA era and all. Very addicting.

 

[Jaesun]

Alter Ego was just awful due to the horrible engrish translation. Was probably better in it's native language.

 

[20 Eyes]

I thought The Longest Journey was pretty 'highbrow' without being pretentious. It's a great story and a great adventure game. It also gets points with me for featuring a female protagonist that is actually likable and not some lame video game cliche. If most video games are Fox, The Longest Journey is a good HBO show in comparison.

 

[Tycn]

Arcanum and possibly The Last Express are the only games mentioned that I would considered to be even remotely highbrow. Where are the monocles dammit?

 

[torpid]

Pathologic is highbrow, but the translation makes it oscillate between highbrow and schizophrenic raving.

 

[SCO]

The Dark Eye probably qualifies.

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/darkeye/darkeye.htm

 

[Ermm]

Super Smash Brothers 2.
There is nothing more highbrow that this. C'mon, you have Pikachu, Link, Mario and the plot is epic.

At first I wanted to say Final Fantasy VII, but there is no Pikachu, so it was kind of a letdown.

The new Medal Of Honor game is worth mentioning, and the plot rivals Michael Bay movies in terms of storytelling and plot twists, but there was too much freedom in that game, so it interrupted the special cinematic narrative, which is the most in important in a VIDYAGAME.

 

[Ermm]

For real, maybe this? The Residents Bad Day on the Midway

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/ba ... index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW1GMvrGPR4

 

[baronjohn]

Anyway, since you consider cyberpunk juvenile, you won't like this one, but it is unusual:

Blade Runner: a adventure with 10 different endings, selected randomly and from some actions you do. Some of the voice actors are originals from the movie, and the plot happens at the same time as the movie plot though it never touches (for instance, Rachel appears as the secretary of Tyrell Corp.)

Cyberpunk is a shallow genre. Like noir, but with cool gadgets. I enjoy the aesthetics and sometimes the action, but there's nothing highbrow about it. There's no philosophy to it beside the vulgar hypercapitalism, no analysis, nothing... I've tried reading cyberpunk books, but I just can't get over the "punk" style of writing. It's especially annoying since I know some of these authors can write well, when they aren't writing cyberpunk.

However I've remembered another potentially highbrow game: Outcry. I once had it installed, but I never played it. It's tempting though

http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/outcry

Can anyone confirm?

 

[DriacKin]

Genuinely surprised nobody's mentioned 'I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream'

 

[Alex]

Anyway, since you consider cyberpunk juvenile, you won't like this one, but it is unusual:

Blade Runner: a adventure with 10 different endings, selected randomly and from some actions you do. Some of the voice actors are originals from the movie, and the plot happens at the same time as the movie plot though it never touches (for instance, Rachel appears as the secretary of Tyrell Corp.)
(this one is a good lp candidate).


Similarly, King of the Dragon Pass has the same dilemma for you... a tribal themed historical strategy game (randomized simulation/choose your own adventure/strategy) that is quite excellent, but has silly parts (real magic, monsters, fantasy) because of the underlying setting ( was it the Dark Eye? Can't recall).

King of Dragon Pass uses the Glorantha setting, the brain-child of Greg Stafford. It is the setting of a board game of the same name, a P&P RPG called Runequest and another one called HeroQuest (not the board game). In some ways, I think the setting can also be seen as a grandfather of Morrowind. Ken Rolston was the editor for the Rune Quest line for a time as well as one of the third edition authors. The attention to detail that is present in both seem very similar, at least to me.

Anyway, I know where you are coming from when you say that the real magic and monsters may prevent the game from being "highbrow", but they are a really important part of the setting, even more so than in other fantasy settings. Greg Stafford is a shaman, and this influences a lot of things in how Glorantha works. I believe that the concept of heroquesting borrow a lot from Mr. Stafford's personal experiences, and his desire to create a mythology of his own.

 

[Kz3r0]

Genuinely surprised nobody's mentioned 'I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream'

This.
Another vote for The Void and Blade Runner.
Arcanum
Cosmology of Kyoto, you can't get more high brow than this.
Metal Gear Solid, meta-meta-gaming.
Planescape:Torment, oh yeah.
Mask of the Betrayer too.
Okami, very artsy.
Silent Hill, seriously.
Ecco the dolphin, new age cetacean simulator.
And Zone of the Enders I an II, save civilians or slaughter them.
ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, trying hard to be art.


PS:
Posting in a Baron John thread.

 

[drsnodgrass]

Not to be a newfag and necro this thread, but I thought it might be worthwhile to mention Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth. Depending on how seriously you take Lovecraft, the evil monsters might detract a bit, and the combat detracts a lot, but it's a very thoughtful and engrossing thriller in a 1930s American setting.

 

[Nael]

Read a fucking book.

 

[baronjohn]

I'm not expert but Cthulu seems to barely be more highbrow than LOTR. In other words, it's not highbrow at all.