I think games like Mass Effect and Fallout 3 are good references for discussions on adventure games. Minus the shooting and stuff, whenever I play games like these I think to myself, "Wow, this is just like what an awesome adventure game would be like."
Adventure games (as we all know) can be often too restrictive and remain too steeped in what has been the historical method of presenting an adventure game. I, for example, really, really, loved Mass Effect. Some of the shooting bits I didn't mind - in the cases of where the story warrants a bit of shooting, that's fine, but I don't enjoy things like running around trying to kill giant alien monsters. I find that silly.
However - the all the other parts a game like Mass Effect, you think that an adventure game should be like this! If an adventure game was presented in a format similar format instead replacing the running around and shooting a whole lot with more dialogues or objective based tasks you could have some really
exciting and
stimulating adventure games!
But then again... sometimes I just like to sit down and relax with a typical adventure game.
