I would agree with what someone else said here:
The golden age was 10 years ago:
Kings Quest 4, 5, 6, Fate of Atlantis, Monkey 1-2, Kyrandia 1-2
etc etc
The graphics may not have been up to par, because it was impossible. But the gameplay was perfect, the music was genious, the lands\storys\characters were insanely addictive to play, and when there was voice acting (like fate of atlantis or the Dig came out with), it was splendidly done with awesome actors.
Today it is a new age of adventure games. They're not awful pieces, but they're not what these games used to be. Games like Still Life, Syberia, Longest Journey, that use a 3d Model interface implement a much slower walking speed, that alone can really bore someone when you're character you're playing is walking slower than real life. The music is very very VERY morbid in the newer games, and the puzzles are almost completely non-existent.
Nothing would be better than to take a programing team and a writer that put together things like the Dig or Fate of Atlantis and have them create an all new fantastic adventure.
I sat for almost 40 minutes last night in Longest Journey, not moving from the screen, listening to the bishop talk to me. I then left the room not to go figure out a puzzle, but to go "talk" to someone's name he gave me. I talked to that guy, and that guy told me to go talk to Warren. Then I talked to Warren and he told me to go get his police records. Well hell, there is some gameplay here finally but it only lasts about 20 minutes, now I'm back to talking to people for another 2 hours. The games are more like books (read alongs) than they are a players game (Figuring stuff out)
My 12 year old sister breezed through Longest Journey (Great game but) she had no frickin' clue how to get through Kings Quest 6. She was calling me every 20 minutes "How do I do this!!!"
*shrug
