5 Core Elements of Interactive Storytelling

[Prophet5]

Hi Thomas,

I don't know if any of you guys have played "Avarice: The Final Saga". It was an OS/2 title from 1996; so probably not. It was a graphical adventure game similar to Myst, where your movement was one still frame at a time rather than the fluid movements of First Person 3D games. In all the time I've owned it (17 years) I have never completed it. The puzzles can be quite brutal. Some are linear; meaning obtaining an item or solving a previous puzzle is required prior. Some are abstract; with no clear definition of what any of the clues mean or their relevance. At least one of these puzzle requires potentially trapping yourself to identify what a series of numbers means (unless you're really clever).

It is a good detective style narrative, but does suffer from progression blocks, and there is a great deal of reading. At one point an entire diary needs to be read to find a clue.

Another mechanic of the game is that every item can be manipulated in some way. An orange can be peeled, broken up and eaten for example. All the books in the library can be read cover to cover (if one had the time). It was, and still is a great game. I wish I could finish it