Adventure Forums - View Single Post - Why/How did puzzles become associated with adventure games ?

noknowncure · 01-12-2009, 12:59 PM

From first playing AG's as a kid, I've always enjoyed the feeling of satisfaction when you finally work out a problem in a game.

All game genres have moved towards a more cinematic style and while action movies have been the main focus elsewhere, AG's allow you to experience the more cerebral side of unfolding a tale. (Although, to be honest, plenty of action based games these days tend to include elements that wouldn't feel out of place in AG's - though not enough for my liking.)

When you say 'Puzzle' I assume you use it in the purest sense of the word - slider/code/recipe/jigsaw etc.

I usually refer to all obstacles in AG's as puzzles, including - inventory based problems/dialogue trees/fetch quests

I personally favour the latter over the former as they seem to more naturally incorporate themselves into a seamless story experience - although not always.

I do enjoy the former, but find that they can frustratingly bring a story to a complete stop. They tend to rely on the player already possessing a certain proficiency in whichever type of puzzle is presented and as such, can become tiresome if it's an area you struggle with.

For example, the solution to slider puzzles are somehow obvious to me - though I've no idea why especially - but I'm useless when presented with, say, recipes (though that's often simply because I give up quickly when they are lengthy, with little to no clue as to whether or not things are working.)

Also, from an aesthetic perspective, it's dispiriting to explore a beautifully designed, vibrant game world, only to ultimately end up stuck for ages on a static image of a door handle or a gloomy table with four test tubes.

01-12-2009, 12:59 PM	#14
noknowncure Senior Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 314	From first playing AG's as a kid, I've always enjoyed the feeling of satisfaction when you finally work out a problem in a game. All game genres have moved towards a more cinematic style and while action movies have been the main focus elsewhere, AG's allow you to experience the more cerebral side of unfolding a tale. (Although, to be honest, plenty of action based games these days tend to include elements that wouldn't feel out of place in AG's - though not enough for my liking.) When you say 'Puzzle' I assume you use it in the purest sense of the word - slider/code/recipe/jigsaw etc. I usually refer to all obstacles in AG's as puzzles, including - inventory based problems/dialogue trees/fetch quests I personally favour the latter over the former as they seem to more naturally incorporate themselves into a seamless story experience - although not always. I do enjoy the former, but find that they can frustratingly bring a story to a complete stop. They tend to rely on the player already possessing a certain proficiency in whichever type of puzzle is presented and as such, can become tiresome if it's an area you struggle with. For example, the solution to slider puzzles are somehow obvious to me - though I've no idea why especially - but I'm useless when presented with, say, recipes (though that's often simply because I give up quickly when they are lengthy, with little to no clue as to whether or not things are working.) Also, from an aesthetic perspective, it's dispiriting to explore a beautifully designed, vibrant game world, only to ultimately end up stuck for ages on a static image of a door handle or a gloomy table with four test tubes.