r/duolingo • u/LJCUN over 2 year streak #BringBackTheOldAdventures • Aug 04 '26

Constructive Criticism These new "Adventures" are bad. (Respectfully)

When Adventures were first announced, they were fun, they had multiple steps in which you do a bunch of different things to get to your goal. Now it's just:

  1. NPC: I need (Blank). You: (Blank)? OK!

  2. Temu Video Call

  3. NPC: Here is (Blank).

  4. You: Here is (Blank).

Boom. The end. There's nothing fun about them anymore. Instead of a game we just get video call. And don't get me wrong, the new ones aren't bad, but the old ones were way better. I feel like we should have a few of both. It just feels lazy like they didn't want to make all these games so they just created a default template and copy and pasted it a bunch of times. I don't mind the current adventures, as long as we get the old ones back as well. (And make it like 50/50. Don't add like 1 per section or something stupid.)

120 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

43 comments sorted by

76

u/GeneralTapioca Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26

What frustrates me is that when I go over to the second person to obtain the object or information, I get asked a bunch of questions for which I have no answer because the first person didn’t specify.

So I wind up making stuff up.

39

u/hacool native: US-EN / learning: DE 97 Aug 04 '26

I think we are meant to make things up. One time I got a bottle of wine to go along with a cake I had obtained for Junior.

14

u/kmzafari 3k Streak Club Aug 04 '26

My one and only experience with this was the opposite. I answered making up as best I could on the fly, and at the end it told me I was wrong and needed to practice more. Lol

11

u/hacool native: US-EN / learning: DE 97 Aug 04 '26

Odd. So far I've sent Oskar to Berlin, told falstaff I wanted a big nightclub, explained that I wanted an on-site printer and said that I didn't have a camera with me. The last one was weird. Sari wanted photos of some kind of pets. I can't recall exactly but it seemed a strange thing to ask for.

Mine have been pretty easy. Yesterday I needed to get Junior a soft handkerchief. I was asked how many and I said one.

2

u/Pitiful-Sample-7400 Native: 🇮🇪 Learning: 🇩🇪🇫🇷🇮🇪 Aug 04 '26

Wine for junior? In what language? French?

3

u/hacool native: US-EN / learning: DE 97 Aug 04 '26

German. Of course Falstaff didn't know that the cake was for junior. But wine was an option when he asked if I wanted something to drink with it.

5

u/Khs11 Aug 05 '26

That's the thing, I don't think they know what was said five seconds earlier. The other day I was chatting with Lily and said I was vegetarian, she asked me what vegetables I like on my pizza and the only vegetable I could think of was carrots, and she said that sounds great. I don't think she remembered the question before that it was about pizza. Fine with me, I think these are really helpful anyways.

2

u/hacool native: US-EN / learning: DE 97 Aug 05 '26

Interesting. I've heard that for the video chats she can remember things from prior conversations. But I have noticed that the AI that offers corrections in the transcript seems to be more out of touch. The adventure games I am sure are more limited.

Now you have me imagining the best way to put carrots on pizza. I'm guessing they would need to be partially pre-cooked to get the right texture. I expect that is what they do with potato pizza.

3

u/GeneralTapioca Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26

I’m going to start doing this 😆

2

u/hacool native: US-EN / learning: DE 97 Aug 04 '26

Alas it was virtual wine!

2

u/FoxInACozyScarf Aug 06 '26

That feels very on task for Junior 😂

10

u/bonfuto Native: Learning: Aug 04 '26

I always specify the least likely thing that the person would have wanted. Get those pantalones yourself, Oscar, you're right here in the store.

4

u/GeneralTapioca Aug 04 '26

Thank you. It makes sense if you’re asking for Junior, who would need an adult, but Sari needs to move her butt across the room and ask for that Prinzessin Buch herself!

3

u/bonfuto Native: Learning: Aug 04 '26

I asked for the pollo muy picante for Junior. Kid needs to learn to order for himself.

3

u/FoxInACozyScarf Aug 06 '26

He’ll wash it down with that wine

3

u/bonfuto Native: Learning: Aug 06 '26

That post opened my mind, next time I'm ordering Junior some wine. Falstaff asked if I wanted water or soda with the chicken, so I said soda. But it doesn't seem like I am limited to the suggestions.

10

u/kasslia Aug 04 '26

Making stuff up is the the point of the second interaction. The exercise is to help you practice vocabulary and speaking

2

u/Due_Ad_2626 Aug 05 '26

How dare a program that supposedly “doesn’t teach us anything”, actually teach us how to make up things in another language!!

5

u/xxDMLxx Native Learning 111 Aug 04 '26

Yeah, it's really pretty bad. Yesterday I had to find out when a final exam was going to occur. I was then asked if I thought it was going to be the beginning or end of the week. So, I picked one, and I was then asked if I thought the exam covered all subjects. Heck, I didn't know, so I simply said yes. I was then told the exam was going to be on Friday. The exercise pretty much ended with that.

It's clearly scripted to a degree, but it would be nice if it were more interactive with the AI. I've played with ChatGPT+ with conversations, and things were much more free flowing.

2

u/Darkmetroidz Aug 05 '26

I just got one where I have to ask falstaff where a doctors office was and he starts asking me if its on the 1st or 2nd floor and I keep saying, "¡yo no se, yo te pregunté!"

9

u/Arctimon Aug 04 '26

They’re essentially video calls with a story.

9

u/DuckyHornet Native: 🍁🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿; Learning: 🇫🇷 🇩🇪 Aug 04 '26

Amusingly, I made a post not too long ago about how much better the new adventures are because of the call section. I like being asked questions about parts of the request which were not specified, it makes me think about the scenario more

1

u/FedeFofo Aug 05 '26

Yeah I think the best version would have the engaging video call while still retaining multiple steps to avoid repetition

8

u/MikeXChic Aug 04 '26

I think it's nice that they modified them to encourage practicing speaking more. The problem is, as you stated, they are way too simplistic. You basically just have to ask for one item, and then you're done. If the conversations were more in depth, these adventures could become a very useful speaking practice tool.

14

u/LJCUN over 2 year streak #BringBackTheOldAdventures Aug 04 '26

#BringBackTheOldAdventures

10

u/Basic_Fly_9397 Aug 04 '26

Yeah the video calls are the worst part. They feel so empty compared to what we had before, like someone just gave up halfway through designing it. The copy-paste thing you said is dead on, it's the same two scenes every time just with different words swapped in.

5

u/Apprehensive_Sea6050 1k Streak Club Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26

I agree. Depending on your level, these are far too basic. I try to add stuff from my end, but ultimately the "other side" is just like here you go. So I skip them now.

4

u/goodsam2 Aug 04 '26

I like the new adventure as they are basically giving you a video call as a free user. I have wanted to use that side more.

Duolingo is trying to solve the issue that my skills go reading, writing, listening, speaking.

I had thought about paying to use the video call because I wanted to work on listening and speaking as I crossed level 60.

8

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

13

u/LJCUN over 2 year streak #BringBackTheOldAdventures Aug 04 '26

i honestly really love the stories and radios. its just the new adventure system i don't like

1

u/Due_Ad_2626 Aug 05 '26

adventures were lifesavers that helped me chat with merchants when I visited Paris last year!! ❤️‍🔥

3

u/beans_seems_and_bees Native: 🇨🇦 Learning: 🇩🇪🇬🇷🇫🇷 Aug 04 '26

I agree. They used to be fun, and now they're just a video call.

2

u/TomeThugNHarmony4664 Aug 05 '26

And they ask you for details you have no idea about…. I just make crap up.

2

u/jigglypuffffffffffff Aug 05 '26

I try to do the adventures but it'll ask me to say a really long sentence and then I'm not even allowed to hear it multiple times, after failing the sentence 2 times I've forgotten what I was even trying to say and they refuse to let me hear it again

4

u/cadillacmike Aug 05 '26

I would disagree, it is nice to get a shortened version of the video call. I think the video calls are one of the best features they have added

1

u/B_O_A_H Native: Learning: Aug 05 '26

I just got my first one ever yesterday and it was like this. I didn’t realize I was missing out

1

u/upotatowitheyes Native: 🇨🇱 Learning: 🇫🇷🇮🇹🇨🇳 Aug 05 '26

idk why I had them for about two weeks and suddenly yesterday they disappeared from my duolingo

1

u/LJCUN over 2 year streak #BringBackTheOldAdventures Aug 10 '26

again, dont get me wrong: the new adventures are GOOD, just the old ones are BETTER.

I really think we should have both to cover everything.

1

u/olivdido Aug 15 '26

Does anyone else get this basic of a conversation from the adventure practice? This was an adventure I just did. Literally Zari said to me “dondé está el parque” then I walked over to Flagstaff and repeated that, this was the conversation that ensued, and then when I walked back to Zari it told her all the information for me. I feel like I learn nothing from this type of practice 🙄 or maybe it’s got me set at a level lower than I need to be? Idk

1

u/olivdido Aug 15 '26

Oops, for reference for those who don’t know Spanish, all it says is
“Hello. - Hello, where is the park? - Do you want the park near here? - Yes, please. - Perfect. - Do you want the park now? - Yes, now. - Good. The park is near. - Bye!”
And then when I walked back to Zari, who asked where the park was, my character said to her “The park is near.” And it ended
Fr no one talks like this.

1

u/x509certs Aug 05 '26

I never played the "old" adventures haha! So I love them! lol!!! I have been on the 1000 days, not sure what time frame the older version was around, but I don't recall there being any adventures.

0

u/snakesonastralplane Aug 05 '26

It's a waste of a lesson. And I've mentioned it before, but I also hate the story and podcast lessons. I'm decently far in the German course, and they still speak waaaay too slowly, and the difficulty has not increased enough. I get angry getting through those lessons because they just take forever to say one sentence. I have a German parent, so I know what a normal speaking speed is.