I'm even more adventurous than BaldBob. I'm also playing casual games and hey, if Jane Jensen can, why can't I? Over the more than 2 years that I have been playing HOGs, more and more are getting to be Interactive, more like adventure games. I would rate them closer to adventure than action games with fighting and role-playing getting in the way of the adventure. As for Myst, forget it, that's a puzzle game no matter what it is called.

Mary, I know what you mean. No matter how good these games may be, I just do not like combat/action in my games. I don't enjoy that type of game play.

With games like Still Life and Next Life/Reprobates, I keep saved games after the more action oriented sections so that I never have to play them again once I've completed them the first time. That way, I can play through the rest of those otherwise enjoyable games without having to deal with spiders or spinning lights.

Dreamfall is okay because luckily, it's action sections aren't that difficult. Even so, those sections were the least enjoyable part of an otherwise excellent game from my point of view. I didn't mind the fetch quest for the spices as others did, but I didn't like the troll cave at all. I wanted the opportunity to look around and enjoy the scenery/puzzles at my leisure, and instead, I was ducking trolls.

I don't think it has anything to do with being less adventurous than other players. I like going on "adventures" in games, after all. I think it just has to do with having different preferences, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Stuck??!! No way.. uh-uh. The very reason I prefer Adventure games (sans 'action') is that I've 'been there' and decided it wasn't for me. "The Simpsons Hit & Run" gave me hours of enjoyment & laughs, even though it took a while to --nearly-- master the keyboard controls. I tried another one, and the action & storyline were centered around picking things up & running, jumping &/or climbing to another place to pick up more things.

To be fair (for this discussion) I checked out some of the "Prince of Persia" action on youtube. You're right about the attractive environment. But I tend to become distracted by the keyboard-driven action... and frankly, much of that distraction is from me giggling at the funny behavior as the character tries to jump or scramble up a wall or leap over a precipice. And the characters in the action games I've tried, always seem to be fixed, mid-screen, while the environment spins around them. You remember the Journeyman games. In them, you travelled around the world and through different time periods. Extraordinary environments which I still remember to this day. Same for many, many other Adventure games which did not contain 'action-action-action'. Rarely did I have to run, leap, or jump for extended lengths of time, either.

We all understand your enthusiasm, 'cause we all have it, no matter what kind of gaming we prefer. That's why we're here. I get what you're saying about Action games being similar to movies, but I really don't want to be the director... making the 'actors' do what I want. When I'm the actor and looking around the environment from my own point-of-view... that's when I feel like I've "climbed in the (movie) screen" myself.

As far as "being so stubborn for so long"... ah, c'mon. I thought I'd given that stuff a good enough try already Bob... and it's not for me. I've no regrets.

I only play straight adv games. Any reports of action elements that aren't in simple cutscenes automatically turns me off to the game. It would require too many requests for saved games as I just don't have the reflexes for action games, and continuously get killed. Too bad as would really like to be able to play some of them (ex. Silent Hill, Hitman and Max Payne series). Would love to see remakes of the Maxpayne, Silent Hill and Hitman series as straight adventure with the action elements as cutscenes.

Regards,

Barry

Check for cheats like "God Mode" or "Invincibility" or "Infinite Health" for the games you are interested in. For example at ***Gamefaqs***.

Cheats may or may not work with reissue versions of the games. But if you can find an original issue game, the cheats should work.

Unfortunately the Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands game that Baldbob likes doesn't have any decent cheats, so the closest I'll ever get to playing it is watching a video of someone else playing it. I'm too slow for ***this kind of thing*** without an invincibility (god mode) cheat.

Yep. This kind of thing, well, I'm too slow for that kind of thing.

I've watched my son play action games before and some of them are great, but I just don't have the reflexes to handle maneuvers like this gracefully--while I'm still trying to remember what the controls are, I'm dead meat.

Zanzarah is probably the closest I've come to playing an "action" game (i.e. the fairy fights) and being able to play successfully on through to the end. I do better with a lot of RPGs, too, which have plenty of action, but some of them also have a pause feature during combat such that the action scenes can be played as turn-based strategy instead, which makes all the difference.

I have several "dark side" games, some of which I purchased when I first bought a computer and didn't know there were different genres and some that I've purchased since:

American McGee's Alice before
Clive Barker's Undying before
Black and White before
Zanzarah somewhere in between
Silent Hill 2,3, & 4 since
Pitfall Harry (2 games) since
BloodRayne 2 (my brother found in a cereal box)
Alice In Wonderland waiting for delivery

and probably some others. They're all waiting to be played but there are so many good adventure games to play.

I think I agree with Venus about Dreamfall. The action parts, while doable, were probably my least favorite part.

But my motto is: someday, someday, someday!