I have a promo code which allows one to redeem their choice of one of these fine games...
Edna & Harvey - The Breakout
Deponia
A New Beginning - Final Cut

Yes, A GoG code, here, not any other online retailer...

The winner will have forum presence outside of trading, giveaways and asking for freebies. Otherwise, no specific rep or join date requirements. I will be using my judgement with regards to possible alts, sorry alt army...

As an optional topic of discussion, I suggest the following questions...
"What makes a Point & Click Adventure work for you?"
"Is it the puzzles, the story?"
"Which have you found worked well for you, and which failed in your opinion?"
"What are your favorite P&C's?"

The random drawing will occur when I feel entries have died down or the middle of next week at the latest.

Edit: And the winner is expected to redeem the game to his own account.

We now have a few entries, so I'm going to establish a deadline of Monday night after 10 pm EDT. Give a chance to those who don't check the forums on the weekend...

Congrats to Ingsoc85! The giveaway is now closed....

Not in.

What makes a P&C work for me are exactly what you said:

The story and the puzzles (that's what they're all about, anyway!) To elaborate:

The story and writing have to be on or above par to standard short-stories and novels, to me (of course, there's a ton of poorly written stuff out there, so, it's all my point of view, really.) If writing and story are mediocre or worse, chances are I don't care unless there are other elements/qualities that outweigh this (B-quality horror+cheese like Phantasmagoria, 1+2. The understandably slow/mediocre start to the Blackwell Series because of being so low-budget/first works, I give it more leeway and forgiveness.) As with short stories+novels I want to be intrigued from the first line or paragraph. If you can't deliver a solid first line or paragraph, you probably can't write very well and that doesn't bode well for what is to follow and I'll likely give up very quickly.

Puzzles for me are much much much preferred if they are practical-application/worldly-logic "puzzles." (STASIS is perhaps doing this better than I've seen in a game. Straightforward and logical yet not easy.) As opposed to mind-puzzles that are essentially games within the game (7th Guest is one of these games that I actually DO like, because of the atmosphere and weirdness of it all.)

I also want to be challenged. If I feel like I'm simply following a series of pre-determined screen-clicks to move along the plot/action, I get bored. (Syberia1+2 had this issue and more, for me, while some like them a lot, to me, they are some of the worst adventure games I've clicked through[not using the term "play" to emphasize my point.]) Pretty pictures with no substance and the color-palette became monotonous and it was more gimmicky and pretentious than anything.

I had to give up on Broken Sword rather early in the first game (chapter 3 maybe?) because I just found everything about it utterly boring or tedious with horrible writing and plot development. It started out interesting, for 5 minutes, then it was just a click-fest through predictable cliched scenarios.

The Longest Journey, Gabriel Knight 2, and Full Throttle are tops for me. Story, writing, puzzles, atmosphere. I've not yet finished STASIS (toooo busy to get immersed), but it's looking to add up to one as well.

Bump...I'm sure someone ought to have interest in one of these games...

A New Beginning looks a bit intriguing and the art is nice but there are mixed reviews (that make me think I'd lean towards being "meh" about it) and I've not played a single Daedelic game before, and there are a few on my WL while A New Beginning didn't make the cut to be on the WL. Regardless of entries, I think there should be more contributions to this thread already!

P&Cs have the puzzles integrated into the story and the story integrated into the puzzle. A P&C without puzzle is more likely a visual novel, and a P&C without a story is more a raw story. Making use of the puzzles in a P&C, and finding out how to put it well and inside the story, should make up a true P&C.

That's it for "Is it the puzzles, the story?"

Thanks for this giveaway!
I`m in for Edna & Harvey - The Breakout. (Or better I will choose this game.)

My favourite point and click game series is the Deponia series. I really liked it. No I loved it. I never ever had so much fun playing a game (all 3 of them). The story was nice and the puzzles were not to hard to solve. But the best part of the games are the dialogues. I don`t know if the games is as funny in other languages as in german but I have to laugh at least once every 5 minutes. I really can recommend the 3 Deponia games to all people who like to have fun.

The Syberia games were cool games too. Really nice story driven games. I hope part 3 will come out soon. The only thing I hate about it was that you have to walk a lot between places (no fast travel). But what would you expect from a game in which the main character is called "Kate Walker"? And you will remember her name because in every dialogue all people say her full name (O.K. in almost every dialogue) ;) Part 1 is getting better in late game. Part 2 starts well and get a bit boring in the middle but later gets good again.

Next really nice game I played was "The Inner World". Best story in a point and click game I have ever played. I would recommend it to all point and click fans. Not that hard puzzels and a really cool story with some funny dialogues.

I had the chance to play "Edna & Harvey: Harvey`s New Eyes" and surprise: I loved it too. ;) Funny story with funny characters. A little child who tried to help all and make one accident after another (I don`t want to spoiler too much.). I`m really looking forward to play the other Edna & Harvey game!

Now two point and click games I didn`t like. "Ben There, Dan That!" and "Time Gentlemen, Please!". I don`t get in both of them. The drawing of the game is O.K. but the stories were disappointing for me. Perhaps I didn`t get the point of the games because they there only available in english language (I`m not a native speaker). From both games the second one was much better but I wouldn`t play them again or buy a new game of this devs.

Now a indie game I played: "Morhopolis". Funny little game (only about 2h max.). You are a bug and evolve in 5 short point and click levels with some more or less hard puzzles.

I`m a fan of hidden object games too. It´s point and click with puzzles and hidden object pictures between. I played a lot of them and I would recommend all of them. From best to good:
Nightmare from the Deep series (3 games), Grim Legends: The Forsaken Bride, Enigmatis Series (2 games for now), Alchemy Mysteries: Prague Legends, Frankenstein: Master of Death, Time Mysteries series (3 games), Dark Arcana: The Carnival (a bit short) and Sinister City (strange but funny story).

"What makes a Point & Click Adventure work for you?"
For me it is the story. But I like it too if the dialogues are funny. This must be no surprise if you read all above this. ;)

Good luck all!

Thanks for the giveaway! +1

I'm not in.

I think a good P&C need to have a good story and overall a good gameplay-puzzles mechanics, if this are bored or tedious the game can be unplayable.

My favourite P&C games are (without a particular order):

- The Secret of Monkey Island I and II.
- Grim Fandango.
- Broken Sword I and II.
- Runaway 3: A Twist of Fate.
- Memoria.
- The Wolf Among Us (this one is not a typical point and click since puzzles barely don't exist in the game, but the plot and setting are actually good).

Not in, since I already own those games, in fact I'm playing Edna & Harvey right now (I played the sequel first, like a dumbass, but it's still fun).

I love point & click adventure games. I liked them as a kid, but often found them to hard, and I have not played them for many years until recently, two or three years ago, when I redisovered the genre replaying the Money Island games, and playing some new titles like Deponia and Ben There, Dan That, and it's probaly my favourite now, next to RPGs. When the story is good, and the puzzles are good, it's just a joy to play through, without any stress, any need to worry about being fast or having to replay parts of the game after dying. There is some purity in the simplicity of the mechanics in a p&c adventure game that I greatly enjoy. It allows you to take in the atmosphere of the game, the feel of the world. Daedalic is easily ma favourite developer in all of the gaming industry right now. The only game of theirs I did not enjoy was The Whispered World, but other than that I liked all their games, and Deponia Trilogy and Chains of Satinav/Memoria would probably make their way on to the list of my all-time favourites.

Your positive reviews always make me want to play whatever game it is!

Are these games for GOG? Maybe if more interest doesn't accumulate by next week I'll go ahead and enter for it, but I'm trying to only enter for games that are high on my WL these days after receiving so much from the generous people in this community.

I would like to try for A New Beginning.

Adventure games is my all time favorite kind of video games.
From </span></i>, my first ever adventure game, to <i><span class="bold">[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_epPgU5Uq4]Riven and from The Neverhood or The Longest Journey to Primordia I've explored so many wonderful worlds, met so many diverse characters and handled hundreds of dire situations.
It's the stories, it's the worlds and those who inhabit them, the music and that one puzzle that'll drive me mad.
Bring it on.
My journeys have not ended yet...

Some of your favorite journeys may be gathered here for you to remember them again (or request one).