Recommend me quirky, game-y adventure-ish games!

[JSR]

Two years ago I got 2 games for Christmas. You might have heard of them; they were called Deadly Premonition and Demons's Souls. I played them both in the days following Christmas. Both games requires exploration and an understanding of the rules within the games. There are no hand-holding or linear to drag you through the experiences. Unlike modern games that try to movies, these are very game-y. They ended up being 2 of my favourite games ever, and now my memories of that period are extremely fond. I have a vague hope of making that something of a tradition. By that I mean I want to play cool, game-y adventure-ish games every post-Christmas. But I need some tips for titles that can do that for me.

So I want games that:
-Are a bit quirky/special/unique
-Sort of fall in under the "adventure" genre, if loosely
-Don't complete themselves
-Have charm/don't look like generic crap
-Some level of exploration/experimentation
-Are not called Assassins Creed or Uncharted
-Give a sense of being in a fantastical/different/atmospheric world


Examples of games I've enjoyed that I feel fit that description:
-3D Dot Game Heroes
-Dead Rising
-Halo Combat Evolved (only the first one)
-Extermination
-Kameo
-The first Harry Potter game on the PSX
-Pikmin
-Shadow of the Colossus
-Ico


And feel free to use this thread to discuss said properties of games, and whether or not you to like it etc.


THANKS!

[Brad]

Dark Souls obviously. Like Demon's Souls only better.
If you can PC game then maybe try STALKER. Kind of a survival game. Rough round the edges but great atmosphere.

[ETC]

Yakuza 4 or Folklore both underrated and quirky

[chopemon]

Nier fits this description nicely. One of my favourite games of this generation alongside Deadly Premonition.

[crocky-chocky]

Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom.

Bit of a misunderstood gem, I reckon. I played it around Christmas a couple of years back and am tempted to rebuy it for wintery gaming goodness.

Lovely gameworld,and the combat and boss battles fuse nicely with the puzzle solving too, They're nicely contemplative and usually require you to stealthily suss out your surroundings.

[kryss]

Monster Hunter of course.

[noobish hat]

Sentient on the Playstation falls right into this.

[Brad]

I'll second folklore and Nier! Both excellent examples of what you crave Alex.

[noobish hat]

I'll second Sentient.

[teddymeow]

The Yakuza games are consistently excellent. Just the right mix of adventuring, questing and tooth-shattering violence!!

[speedlolita]

Third vote for Nier here.

[Wools]

Yakuza 4 or Folklore both underrated and quirky

Yakuza 4, a thousand times!

[JSR]

Wow, lots of suggestions. Coolio.


LET ME COMMENT ON SOME OF THEM:

Dark Souls is in my PS3 right now (or was that Rocksmith?) and will probably get myself the new edition as soon as it's cheap. Adventure-like games I prefer to play on consoles, so will have to pass on Stalker for now.

I've always wanted to get into Yakuza, but now it seems so daunting. There are five games already, and I've heard the first ones are pretty dull, but I shouldn't skip them either, because of the continuing story?

Had Monster Hunter Tri on the Wii. What really hampered my experience was the cumbersome inventory coupled with the blurry visuals (much more than the average Wii game it seemed), but will definitely pick up the Wii U edition.

Remember trying Folklore when I first got my PS3 (COS IT HAD NO OTHER GAMES LOLOL), don't know why, but the demo didn't really do it for me. Should give it a second look, especially as it cheaper than cereal right now.

I always got the impression that Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom was "Ico - Kids Edition". Easier puzzles, more tame aesthetics, and a more "happy" story. Though I've never tried it, so I could be very wrong about that. That to is super cheap, so might pick it up.

Nier has been on my radar for eons, so that will be picked up as soon as chance determines it to be so (whenever next i find myself accidentally staring at the cover in store).



I also picked up Cursed Mountain today. Looks to be an old school horror/adventure game. Has gotten decent scores. In my experience, I much prefer games getting 7 or 8 out of ten, than the generic super polished games that get 9 or 10. They just seem to have more charm and personality.

[noobish hat]

O hai guise. Did anybody mention Sentient yet?

[JSR]

I meant to comment on that one, but I must've forgotten. My brain does that sometimes, even though I punish it with a hammer every time.

I tried Sentient in a store for about 20 seconds hundreds of years ago. I remember having first person view of a small square area, with a stick standing up from the ground. Tried some buttons, little happened. I moved on. Read a bit about it now, seems very cool. With the added bonus of being a on a console with more expressive (simpler some might call it) graphics, it could be a really neat game.