What needs to evolve?

[Ginny]

it's so hard to pitch an adventure game or produce one yourself all the way, that most games will only be released if they are good.

Wrong. I haven't played a decent adventure game in years. In fact, that it is so difficult to put out an adventure game nowdays leads to stilted design, constructed around the 'please the old school adventure gamers' mentality, just so the game will at least sell to it's target audience.

Or the other way, the game will try to cross-over and you get 3d pushing of crates.

All in theory.. I don't recall many good games that have been released lately, but there are several titles that are in production that look promising.
I agree that designers are careful not to innovate too much because they don't know what the reaction would be, but that applies to other genres aswell. Only thing is, it's easier for designers to take a risk in a popular genre because they know lots of people buy these games, whereas with adventure games, if you steer away from the classic adventure game, designers think people won't buy it.
I think "cross-overs" are a good start, but it's an experiment, so the end product isn't very good. If game designers used the full potential of the new technology, they could make games more immersive and much more fun and exciting, even without including action.

But then I was thinking.. why do we need to advance the graphics so much? Games like Curse of Monkey Island, Syberia or The Longest Journey were beautiful enough, it's not like 2d graphics are always lo-color or something. Why do people immedeately decide that if a game isn't 3d or is a bit old, that they can't enjoy it?

[MrColossal]

But then I was thinking.. why do we need to advance the graphics so much? Games like Curse of Monkey Island, Syberia or The Longest Journey were beautiful enough, it's not like 2d graphics are always lo-color or something. Why do people immedeately decide that if a game isn't 3d or is a bit old, that they can't enjoy it?

The same reason some people dismiss adventure games as soon as they find out they're 3d or have an action element in them. People are awkward and you either pander* to that to get the most broad user base or you do what you want to do any not be surprised when you don't make a million dollars.

[Czar]

I just want a game where I become the character I play and do the kind of things he/she would do.

I read this line from Ghormak, and I thought of something i wanted to share.
I believe a lot of you have played Heroes of Might and Magic 3. Well, I can say with a lot of assurance that you played this game at least once more than 3 hours in a row ( i believe i played it more than 12 hours in a row, but now i'm just digressing ).
I recently played it again with a few of my friends and i wondered why was it like that and in other games it's not really like that.
What I believe is that in HOMM3 they found an almost perfect formula of character development.Sure, you say, there are hunderds of others RPGs and TB RPG/strategies. So why really Homm3? The longer you play it the cooler it is because you get all these monsters and magics and more spell points and Expert Wisdoms and such like. You enjoy developing your character and castle, but the satisfaction here comes i believe because you earned it somehow. You collect wood, ore, sulphur, money... It doesnt have only RPG elements but also Manager games elements, and I believe that a very high % of people are attracted to   wealth, be it virtual or real.

I'm sorry, I stopped writing in the middle of my thought and went to eat, so now i'm a bit lost, but the point is, i think we all love character building wheter it is an adventure, rpg, fps,a racing game or minesweeper.
That is what has the most "chair-glueing" effect to me.

[TheYak]

The same reason some people dismiss adventure games as soon as they find out they're 3d or have an action element in them. People are awkward and you either pander* to that to get the most broad user base or you do what you want to do any not be surprised when you don't make a million dollars.

Sometimes the dismissiveness is due to prejudice against change, yet at others it's bitterness from having been bitten one too many times.  Provided the action bits feel in keeping with the gameplay, I personally have no problem with it.  I have great hope for Dreamfall, but am skeptical about the stealthy parts. . . not off-putting, but does lower my hype level a couple percentage points. 

It's not entirely fair to categorize the criticism of action elements as bull-headed resistance to change.  After all, part of what I enjoy about adventures is not having my characters survival rely upon swift reflexes or keeping ego's head under a two-pixel line of shadow. 

Despite being one of the critical types, I really enjoyed Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy - damn global renaming) for what it was.  I couldn't pin it down as being adventureish or an action game, and it didn't matter.  It was fun.  Incidentally, the stealth segments were the least enjoyable for me and seemingly arbitrary - much prefer Thief's stealth gameplay.

[Helm]

I personally have no problem with 3d adventure games, in fact I await for a few good ones to appear in excitement. But what I ment above is that the crossover appeal is such an afterthought that you get lame executions where the only thing being utilized in 3d is pushing crates... stuff you can do just as badly in 2d. I want 3d adventure games where I pick up pebbles and manage the arc of the throw and velocity to hit someone's window to wake them up, or an adventure game where I have to successfully shadow a person in a busy street, trying to actively not be seen by physically hiding etc. Stuff that would only get boring-ish implementations in 2d but would shine in physics-based 3d. Not just pushing crates.

[TheYak]

Somebody shut Helm up before we get Tresspasser 2.

[Actually, the previously posted concept makes me stupid-happy with desire]