[Vainamoinen]

Originally Posted by MusicallyInspired

And that, by its very nature, clashes completely with the very definition of the word "adventure", which is all about discovery, exploration, and experimentation.
[...]
I think people confuse the term "adventure" with the genre "Adventure".

I think you just did.

Originally Posted by MusicallyInspired

I don't believe it's possible to "evolve" adventures because any "evolution" would turn them into something they're inherently not.

A process previously not known in evolution, I assume.

Originally Posted by Jake

I don't think anyone would ever say the Walking Dead was trying to touch the space '90s adventure games occupy, but I still personally consider it an adventure game. I might have a wider definition than other people, but I don't know what I can do about that.

I completely agree and I do think of TWD as an adventure game. Maybe even an exemplary one. Fact is, everyone has her/his own definition of the genre. There's no fixed definition. A person might define adventure games as "those games I like", then rule out TWD by that definition alone. The adventure genre was never defined by "puzzles" in the same way the RPG is defined by character stats.

The discussion whether TWD was an "adventure" or not is completely fruitless. I wish people would instead focus on what they liked or didn't like about Telltale's last game.

Originally Posted by Jake

I think it comes down to the fact that I believe there is more going on in the Walking Dead than an interactive movie, or a choose your own adventure novel. I don't think it has simply removed the puzzles and concentrated on flashy story.

And again, I completely agree. The "just not an adventure game anymore" standpoint impairs the community's ability to actively communicate pro's and con's of Telltale's last game to an absurd degree. I believe TWD tried to shift the interaction of the player to human relationships and, if you'd like to interpret it that way, aims to deliver a "psychological puzzle" for the player. Although I can still not relate at all to the franchise, the basic idea kept me going after episode one. The mechanics and their complexity, however, haven't even remotely played out to my satisfaction.

Originally Posted by Secret Fawful

People say puzzles ruin pacing, as if adventure games are like movies. As if GAMES ARE LIKE MOVIES. They aren't.

Thanks for real arguments, Fawful. We really needed them here. How about a few more?

I do think the feeling of control and choice, of the player's own pace, is fundamentally important for the level of immersion. There might be sequences where things are moving fast, but on the whole, I'm not too interested in a game where I'm surprised and even bored by sudden breaks in the narrative.