> Actually, in ZGI, everything you do actually HELPS you to solve the game. I don't think there are any neutral actions (at least, not more than about 2). Many of the puzzles in the game you can solve simply by doing them over and over until you find the combination that doesn't get you killed.

Blame this on Myst. I still think that game is responsible for a lot of bad stuff (including the crap point-and-click genre). Puzzle games that feature no inventory tend to be horrible and this is a Myst trait. Having no inventory means that puzzles are generally based around seeing some sort of clues somewhere but of course can be manually cracked.

Perhaps the bigger offender here was Riven where I got through the game just flipping things randomly. Most of the puzzles in that game didn't make a lot of sense even AFTER you'd finished them (particularly the "big" puzzle in the game). Ugh.

A good puzzle game should allow for a nice combination of item manipulation and character interaction (neither of which Myst has) in addition to solving puzzles which involve just fiddling with switches or what not. If anyone's interested I'm gonna plug Half-Life which I finally got today and despite being a first person shooter features great puzzles (though so far no item manipulation) in addition to action. I think Iss plugged it a long while back and I totally second it; if you're looking for a good mental workout and don't mind a bit of action (there has yet to be anything that required a whole lot reflexes) you should check it out.

>
> -Anony "someday I'll work up the courage to put my own name here" mous.

Ste "Jeez, if it's that big a deal use a handle" phen