QFG1 was an amazing game. It solved the main problem of adventure games: players getting stuck. The solution is embarrassingly simple: allow every puzzle in the game to be solved in three different ways (corresponding to fighter/mage/thief classes, but any class can use the solution of any other class). For example, there's a bird nest in a tree and something is glinting inside. You can climb the tree, or throw something at the nest, or cast a "fetch" spell; any of those will work. That makes you feel that the nest is part of the game world, not just a "lock" requiring a unique "key".
And then adventure games promptly forgot that idea and went back to locks and keys. Last year's Milkmaid Of The Milky Way and Thimbleweed Park are artistically head and shoulders above the QFG series, but allow only one solution for each puzzle, so they feel like guessing games instead of worlds. I wish there was some new point-and-click adventure taking the QFG approach.
And then adventure games promptly forgot that idea and went back to locks and keys. Last year's Milkmaid Of The Milky Way and Thimbleweed Park are artistically head and shoulders above the QFG series, but allow only one solution for each puzzle, so they feel like guessing games instead of worlds. I wish there was some new point-and-click adventure taking the QFG approach.