Puzzle Games, Do you enjoy them? Options

[Genten]

There is already a topic about puzzles that I've read over here but it was mostly about puzzle elements in RPGs. I'd like to see how many people are interested in games that are more puzzle-based instead of a standard RPG with puzzle elements.

Some of my favorite RPGMaker games are Ib and Ao Oni. Both are horror games wherein players progress by solving puzzles. Any battle system is simply enemy avoidance; the characters have no way of fighting back and must avoid any foes. The game makes the player solve puzzles to progress. These games still have a plot, but it's not based on defeating bosses or such. I'm curious if anyone is interested in these sorts of games because I've never seen anything similar posted in the project forum. Is it because the difficulty of programming such a thing is too high, or is there simply no interest?

My basic question is, what do you think of games (perhaps RPG games if you've played them) that are puzzle focused and do not include standard monster fights compared to games that add puzzles as a small element,as in a straight RPG game? Straight RPG game being one where the main element is fighting monsters, clearing dungeons, defeating boses, etc.

[Dark Gaia]

Generally, I think puzzles are optional in an RPG but they make a nice optional distraction and add more to the gameplay aside from combat. In a J-RPG, combat is really the main element of the gameplay. Exploration usually boils down to just walking through an area to gather enough EXP and items for the next battle. Putting a puzzle in a dungeon to solve makes exploration more fun, and adds more challenges to the game that aren't centered around combat.

In Legionwood (and to a much greater extent, Legionwood 2) I tried to throw a gimmick or problem to solve in each dungeon the player moved through, to make it more interesting than if it had simply been a maze. Likewise, in my One Night games, there are heaps of puzzles, because puzzle solving is an integral part of the classical survival horror formula. Putting puzzles into your game can't hurt at all. Most people enjoy them. A tip, however, is to always have the answers readily available to your players, because some people will get stuck.