[cbman]

Some people are talking about this as a difficulty issue, which it isn't neccesarily.

For the A scenario, I think of Riven. The large part of the puzzle solving in that game is simply working out what everything is / does and how it all connects to each other. There are very few straight 'door lock' type puzzles.

On the other hand you have more recent games of the B type with standalone puzzles that 'pop out' and are only relevant to themselves and usually have a very clear objective. But that doesn't mean that these puzzles are 'easier'; the challenge is simply of a different type. If you hate sudoku for example and you're presented with a massive sudoku board, that isn't having your hand held just because the objective is clear. Same with a sliding tile puzzle or a maze or any other puzzle in that mould. It's very obvious when you're in a maze: it doesn't make it 'easy' to solve (by the way, I love mazes and I wish developers hadn't been whinged into not using them anymore).

It's a taste / preference thing. Some people enjoy the lateral thinking required in Riven style games (my personal favourite), whereas other people prefer problem solving. It's not about some people being stupid or impatient, it's about different personality types. Some people in life are architechts and enjoy long range planning, some are social workers and enjoy problem solving.

I wish there was more of the A style games being made for sure, I will always consider Riven the ultimate adventure game (at least in the 1st person category), but we should be careful of totally dismissing other styles.