I'm not sure I agree with this statement. I consider myself to be very imaginative, yet many adventure games left me cold or frustrated, be it the text, graphical, or FMV ("Myst-style") variants. I did play a fair share of them, don't get me wrong, but then I ran into the "brick wall."

The "brick wall" may very well be the "fatal flaw" of the adventure genre, and why they never achieved the status of other gaming genres. Yes, other genres have their "brick walls" too, but most times you have the feeling of "if I try one more time, I might beat it." With adventure games, if you hit a brick wall, that's it, game over, you're a moron. The problem is compounded if you're a kid; you're probably not as experienced or well-developed logically as a game-playing adult, and your poor experience with the "adventure" will probably sour you for the rest of your life (as it did me).

The problem with the "adventure" genre is that MORE than imagination is required to enjoy them; they also require a "puzzle-solving" mindset. Like "word problems" are to math, "text adventures" are to puzzles. You are basically solving a series of puzzles in verbose form. The problem arises when the player cannot solve the particular puzzle with his or her own thinking or effort. That's it, game over! Unless the player "cheats" and looks at a hint, he or she will not progress in the game.

The problem with "hints" is that when the player uses them, they often feel like they've cheated themselves by consulting such "cheats," reducing the satisfaction and fun of beating the game. The entire fun of "puzzle" games is the satisfaction of solving the puzzle; if you didn't solve it yourself, it isn't fun! This feeling is exaggerated when the solution to the puzzle turns out to be of (to quote Matt) the "crack pipe" variety, where there's no way a rational thinker would have come up with the solution ("Use toad skin in keyhole" or other such nonsense).

What makes "adventures" more frustrating than the average puzzle game is that they are story-driven. If I'm trying to solve a Rubik's Cube and fail, so what? I just throw the cube against the nearest person's head and I'm done with it. (Joke, of course!) But with an "adventure" game, I'm drawn in by the story, and by hitting the "brick wall," I'm barred from the conclusion of the story until I solve the puzzles. If I can't solve the puzzles, I'm left with a story that I became involved in but never could enjoy to its full conclusion. It's sort of like watching a movie, and just when it's getting exciting, you are cut off and never allowed to see the rest of it. This feeling is even MORE heightened in an adventure game because YOU are the protagonist! YOU have failed! YOU are left dangling!

If you use "hints" to solve the puzzle (if they're available), yes, you can proceed, but hints take you out of the "fantasy" of the game, as well as (like I said) leaving you with a "cheating yourself" feeling.

That's the problem with "adventures," in my opinion, particularly "text adventures," where there's no audio-visual payoff for anything you do in the game. In most of these games, you have to be of a particular breed of people: the high-IQ "puzzle solver." The rest of us idiots never get far enough to gain much satisfaction from the genre. If all videogame genres operated this way, there would be no videogame industry. I can't think of another gaming genre where "cheating" is practically a requirement. If members of THIS website (particularly high-IQ guys like Matt and Bill) admit to consulting hints to play these games, then something's wrong!!!

That's the fatal flaw: the "brick wall."

And as for my solution? I think I do indeed have a "solution," but it may be flawed as well. However, I haven't seen it done before (although I'm not hardcore, so perhaps it has). Tune in next time... (I don't have time to go into all that right now).. :-)

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