Try that in In Memoriam...

(great game, btw)

walkthroughs can help with action sequences too...not to the same degree with puzzles but still...or you can do one of the above, but i like punching walls for what its worth

I prefer adventures without action. If the developers insist on action, they should supply cheat codes. In the manual.

Having said that, The Last Express is an excellent example of a game with well-integrated action sequences. They made perfect sense and I enjoyed them, especially the second time.

doom 3 sounded too funny to resist

Hmm, what if you are completly impatient, have no friends, and there's no cheat code? Then, you'd be stuck forever. And on your way to the mailbox, you get hit by lightning? See what action elements in adventure games can do to you. They can make you dead, so shun them, I tell you, shun them at any cost! ;)

Perhaps, but what would you do if you approached your mailbox and saw that someone mysteriously stuck a lousy slider puzzle on it (yes these puzzles seem to pop up in the most artificial "let's-stick-an-impossible-puzzle-in-here-because-it-doesn't-make-sense-and-we're-clueless-anyway" way), the only way you can get your mail is to solve the damn thing? Hmmm, in a perfect adventure game with limited amount of action I would.... smash the stupid thing open with my trusty lead pipe!! And I'd buy a new mailbox with the money I accrued from accomplishing my RPG style quests!

8-) w00t.

So you mean you'd "Use lead pipe on mailbox"? :)

Of course, but you have to first combine the lead pipe with the widget you picked up five screens ago, otherwise the character will go "well, that didn't do anything."

Absolutely not!! Why should I let some stupid cursor rob me of the thrillingly visceral orgasmatica of smashing a metal container?! Clicking on that mailbox would be the equivalent of telling another party guest to hit the pinata with a stick while I watch, and where's the fun in that? :P :P :P

Of course, I could always just trick the old man down the road to give me the solution to the slider puzzle. See? In a game like Dreamfall it's all about choices. :D 8-) :7

Man you remind me of Runaway 2. I think in another thread I put this as stupidest puzzle ever created:
SPOILER AHEAD:
You need a wrench to give to the weird science guy to fix his bike. You go through all the trouble to get the wrench and when the guy was supposed to give it to you he throws it outside in the trench of mud. You go down to pick up the wrench and you see it in the mud. but would you pick it up??? noooooooooooooooo... why coz you would get your hands dirty. And your gf Gina is dying and you are running short on time. Ok so You(I) spend 3 days (real days) walking around trying to find some cloth to pick up the wrench. What was the solution?? You go up to the second floor of the saloon, go to the balcony, and throw a pot onto the trench so that by Archimedis law, the wrench will fly out of the trench and voila. If I wrote the game my solution would have been:

Pick up wrench.
Wash hands.

Now Here is my take about action in games. If the game warrants action IT SHOULD HAVE action. If it doesn't it shouldn't. It should be natural to the gameplay and seemless not imposed. Indiana jones games should have action coz that was indiana jones is about and LA was right on target with Indy. Made it look more realistic too.

I do see the point SD is making here but in FOA, I remeber getting stuck for a while on the section

Spoiler:

where you have to control the air ballon to get to the nomad's camp site.

I knew what I had to do but getting it done was no easy task. And I believe there was no cheat code for that arcade sequence.

Or what about the Syro section in Missing

Spoiler:

where you have to guide that little ball through the maze?

When I somehow got through three mazes after long bouts of cursing and pulling my hair out and saw the fourth maze popping open, I almost broke into tears.

I totally agree with you. If you want to put action, don't put something that frustrates people. Either make it user friendly and logical or live without it. There is nothing worse than frustrating gameplay, whether it be action or obscure pixel hunting, or a very illogical puzzle. That just sucks you out of the whole gaming experience.

That's my favorite too! ;)

I realize this is an old thread, beforehand :P

I don't particularly care. I am more of an action games player than adventures and know a lot more about action than of adventures, but I also love adventures and lately the new games' stories and character development is so bad I might as well abandon the genre for a while and stay with adventures.

Remembering Nomad Soul, I'd say adventure can do with action fine, as long as it's not impossible to play like those zombies in Gabriel Knight 1 that required you to die lots of times before you actually got to pass them (who the hell WALKS when trying to escape a ravenous zombie anyway?). Basically, action = yes, as long as it's as well done as in a regular action game. If the game doesn't have action, I'll still play it. It could be there or not, I prefer when it has action, sure, but it's secondary.

Then again look at Deus Ex. Lots of action and a story that makes most adventure games look bad ;)

I think the stupidest puzzle is the one in The Fifth Disciple.

Spoiler:

You have to chop off your own head in order to solve the puzzle.

I'm somewhere in between A and B, but I finally chose A, mainly because I haven't seen that many good action-adventure crossovers in adventure gaming. (outside of Full Throttle, which did it very well)

I love a proper mix, in fact it's my preference. "The Last Express," being my all time favorite is the pinnacle to which all adventures should aspire!

The B -option is waay too traditionalist in its approach to action ;) so I chose the first option.

Eh, I don't mind a little action sprinkled into my adventure games. As long as it's tasteful.

Many of my favorite games have had action/arcade elements: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Quest for Glory, Conquests of the Longbow, King's Quest II VGA, Sam & Max (whack-a-rat)...

In most cases, I think it works well. It can provide a thrill of danger, add to the atmosphere of the story, or just mix things up a bit.

Action doesn't have to be about killing bad guys. Racing, sneaking/hiding, timed sequences, even a good old platform challenge can provide action in an adventure game.

I think a bigger question is whether we should tolerate jigsaw puzzles in adventure games.