Has anyone else noticed how many "Adventure" games are coming out with timed mini-games, fight sequences, timed puzzles, etc?

I am a 76 year old with very slowed down reflexes, and arthritis in my hands. I can't operate the WASD movement, and I can't win fights or timed puzzles.

Over the past several years I have received quite a few PC Games for Christmas and Birthday presents. The gift givers knew I loved Adventure games and they bought me many games,labled & advertised as Adventure games.

Several of these games sit on my shelf, unplayable by me because they are more 'action' than 'adventure', and I can't complete the action sequences. The games include Next Life, Dreamfall, Penumbra: Overture, and several others which I have given away.

I like the mouse point & click games but they appear to be getting squeezed onto the keyboard by the need to have a huge number of actions required by the software house to keep the player entertained.

Adventure games are going the way of today's movies....hours of special effects, but very little plot.

Hi Chuck_in_NH

To GameBoomers..

Yes its very sad that some developers are resorting to this kind of game play in adventure games..

Adventure...Should be just that adventure...The labeling is very vague...Action /Adventure < Is more like the Tomb Raider games......Even in some of the adventure games...There should be no action at all....

oh boy you sure hit a sore spot with me(no pun intended)..yep-arthritis has slowed my hands down too and it just burns me up to get an ''adventure'' game only to find out after getting into it that it is an Action/Adventure game. Timed sequences, jumping, arcade style play don't belong!! UNLESS there is an auto solve feature. However, i just love the Myst series and they had timed sequences in them...but the worst were the 4th and 5th(trying to draw on a ince tablet w/my trackball..grrr) in the series and then there was Uru which i found so frustrating. Myst 4(Revelation) i had to send my save game off to a fellow boomer (dadguy) and he solved that awful Mangree puzzle for me and sent the save back to me...i was so grateful..and another boomer helped me in similar way farther on. Until then i had not ever done that! But..is a shame because as beautiful as those games were 4 and 5 i won't play them again because of the frustration. Developers should start properly labeling the games!!!

Have either of you tried a RollerMouse? It makes things a lot easier! For instance, With Dreamfall, it took me four tries instead of the uncountable times it did the first time I played the game. I just held down the w key and guided Zoe with the rollerbar.

They need to have a "suitable for people with limited mechanical ability" rating for games. I wonder if Amazon would consider making one.

Welcome to GB Chuck. Nice to meet you. What would really be nice if game developers could build into the adventure games the option to skip an area that that you can't complete or have the option to have a puzzle solved so you can advance in the game.

This way for people who can't do timed puzzles or who have limited abilities they could still enjoy the game and finish it.

I like Gerry's suggestion Skipping the action or Timed parts I don't have Arithitis,(yet anyway)but I can not use the WASD keys for the life of me.What is a Roller Mouse?

Certainly have !!

I am now super careful about trying to pre-discover such content in Adventure games before I buy

I am with all of you, I loved the longest journey so much, and waited and waited for Dreamfall, I have
received a couple saves, and it still is sitting unfinished, I also have a few games, that I couldnt start because of this, and
its really hard to tell in the description of them, sometimes...
I like the idea of being able to skip these areas also!!
Marcia

Hi everyone,

I had a feeling I was not the only affected person.!

I have been playing 'Adventure' games since Myst came out. I noticed the change. Whenever I encountered a game with an un-solvable sequence, I wrote a nice e-mail to the developer explaining the handicap problem. I never heard back from them.

There is a awesome resource for us here in GameBoomers 'game review section'. I now (since joining) read the reviews and select my games based on the reviewer comments on timed puzzles and fighting sequences.od Bless the reviewers.

I have solved the Christnas and birthday presents problem. I explained the problem to my relatives, and they now give me Amazon.com gift certificates, which I use after I read the GameBoomer reviews.

I have tried the roller ball, but I can't use it in the heating season because my fingers get too dry and the slip on the ball surface. I tried keeping the ball moist with a fine spray of several fluids, including water, but they either dry too quickly, or cause the ball pivits to gum up.

My last comment (for now) is the proliferation of puzzles, with no bearing on the plot, inserted into the games, just to have "dozens of mind-bending puzzles. Why can't the developers put these puzzles into a Special Features section called 'Mind bending puzzles'.

PS: We never had these problems with word games.

Hi all,
I only play point and click adventure games,as there is NO WAY I can work the WASD keys. I wish manufacturers/developers would state on the boxes what kind of interface the game contains. I also cannot do arcade - type mini games-my reactions are too slow. I would also like to see the choice of skip game, as I have quite a few unfinished games sitting here because of these factors. People should realise that it's not only the younger generation who like to play adventure games. I am 62.

Doreen

A RollerMouse and a trackball aren't the same thing. I know this is probably a little off point as far as the discussion goes, but a RollerMouse brings the mouse to the middle in front of you. Your keyboard sits above it. It allows your elbows to sit at your sides. I got it to alleviate shoulder and upper arm muscle pain which it does. It's made by Contour Design. You can google RollerMouse. I won't ever use another kind of mouse. So much for commercials.

I agree, I just do not like the action sequences when they serve no real purpose I prefer my games to have story and puzzles. It would suit everyone if the game writers included an option to "solve" these puzzles with a key click.
I try and look for mouse only games but it is very difficult.
My other gripe is that the distributors never give the screen resolution on the box. I can not play 800X600 on my main PC/TV monitor.
Won't do any good but it is nice to moan

PS I used to like text games, or perhaps just getting old
Regards
Bob

It is rare for an adventure game to not be point and click and I haven't run a game in 800x600 in years. All mine play quite fine on my widescreen monitor. Are you playing older games?

Ana

I have hell all day at work & want to have luxury of time to think when I play. No nasty timed bits for me. I don't know why the programmers think they will sell more games by putting these horrible bits in. After the last Broken Sword I played I will not buy another. And it was sheer luck I read a review here that said Simon 4 was actually playable ( it is ) and no timed bits as Simon 3 put me off too.
I am blonde & cannot do the keyboard thing either. I thought that was why a blonde person ( Bill Gates ) invented the mouse.

Jenny, you are too much!

Ana

BrownEyedTigre
I have learnt a lesson, read the specification before you buy a TV. I have a JVC 32" VGA input etc unfortunatly it does not support 800x600. The latest game was "Diamonds in the Rough" which has a default resolution of 800X600. I would not think it too much trouble to put the default resolution on the box after all they put processor and operating system info. It is even more annoying to load up a game and have plenty of sound and a blank screen.
Regards
bob

Hi again Chuck, I also am sooooo grateful to Gameboomers Community, without them, I also wouldnt know how to choose the
games I play or even be able to play them without the walkthroughs and the help in Help forum and the glitches forum, THEY ARE ANGELS here
other than Volunteering I wonder if there is ways to support this community?? just thinking of that???
I hope some of the developers take notice of the comments about
action in Adventures and some of the ideas offered...
There was a time that I liked stuff like Super Mario and speed,
I dont know if its age or what, I really like to sit back and take
my time in puzzles and adventures...
I also loved the older text games , it would take you into your own creative mind to think of the story and places described I loved them...seems good stories, leave out the explaining everything, like shivers, so you can ponder as you go along...

Marcia

Totally agree with everything said here. I, too, read the Gameboomers review carefully before buying anything. To mess about with the keyboard controls just spoils the total immersion in a game whereas the mouse clicks are so involuntary and instinctive that one "remains" mentally in the game at all times. I won't buy anything that doesn't have full mouse control.

And " Yes" there should be a bypass for timed sequences. I was driven to ask for a save game for the first time in order to gather the sheep in a Nancy Drew! Mortification!
Meryl

There are several of the casual games that tickle me because they have a 'skip' or 'solve' feature for some of the mini-games that i can't do (too bad wasn't one in Azada 1..could never do the Robot...so couldn't finish..grrrr). Gosh would have been nice to have it available in Myst 4 for sure (Crystal chair puzzle and that darn aggravating Mangree puzzle...grrr). I wonder why it is not put in more full lenth adventure games...Keepsake had it and i thought that was great...and didn't 7th Guest (waaaayyy back) have that feature? Wonder how hard it is to make that feature available? AND while were're here....sometimes i am able to play a good action/adventure game if i have some good cheat codes or a trainer (thank goodness for godmode and others-heh heh)..i wish the makers of those would have an option of being able to play that game with something like those included for us not so nimble.

I totally agree with you about the Contour Roller Mouse. I have used it for about 4 years now. I work from home on my PC so am in front of the PC alot. Before I had it I used to have right shoulder and neck pain from reaching for the mouse. I don't anymore. The roller mouse is also great for playing PC games - I don't miss a regular mouse at all.

If I remember correctly the first Azada game did have a means for you to skip some of the puzzles by using jewels you collected?

It gave you orbs for completing puzzles quickly (I think) and you use those to skip puzzles. There just weren't a lot of them and they weren't that easy to get