Some questions on gaming preferences

[Sengir]

1) In an adventure heavy game, do you like large, explorable, detailed environments or more compact environments that are more platformer and 'avoid the pit' oriented?
Usually I'm more into expansive environments that I can wander freely in, rather than platforming. I find platforming tends to be too linear or restrictive.
It depends though! If the game is more story-driven then I'm okay with the gaming being a little more linear. In more of a sandbox game, open ended areas are the only logical thing to use.

2) How do you feel about collectible items such as coins/rupees etc. ?
Depends. I basically agree with Woppet; it has to have a reason and not just be littered all over the place.
Also, vaguely related: I. Hate. Scavenger. Hunts. Brutal Legend had the legends, the music, the vistas and the dragon statues, and ffffFFFFFFFFFFF it got annoying. Especially the dragon statues since there's 120 of the buggers. Not cool.

3) In general, what aspects of adventure games do you like most?
Exploring and finding stuff that you haven't necessarily been lead to. Secrets, basically, or missions/quests that don't come to you or aren't from someone obvious.
Also, immersion. Even a fairly generic, realistic town can be made interesting if it feels like a real town and has decent attention to detail.

4) How important is music to your experience?
Very! Atmospheric music needs to set the mood for where I am. If I'm in a spooky, glittering forest, I do not want the music to be the same as the wide open plains. And if I'm in a little village I don't want the music to be the same as in a bustling city.
Atmospheric sound is important too! If I'm in the little village, I expect to hear some wildlife and not a lot of sound from people. In a bustling city I expect to hear traffic, people talking, maybe music or people selling stuff- just... sounds that make it sound alive.

5) How important is story to your experience?
Depends! There's nothing wrong with having an open-ended "do what thou wilt" kind of game. But if there's a story then it needs to be engaging and actually involve characters I can believe in and give a crap about. And a good story needs a decent backdrop- a lot of environment design seems to stop at the physical. I want to know how the people in the town act as a group - are they peaceful, progressive, melancholy? It annoys me that people in a lot of adventure games are just Regular Dudes in Fantastic Places.
Actually, that applies to even open ended games. Everything about the setting needs to be developed.

Basically, my big thing: IMMERSION. The place should feel alive. GTA4 is one of the best games for this, I think.
And I've only had that for two days, hurr.

Because I can't thank.