As far as dead ends, there are two kinds. The unintentional ones were programming mistakes that are rightfully hated by all and should never be allowed to happen. These are a lot more common in the earlier games. This is a aspect that Sierra improved in the later games. The intentional dead ends are another matter, unless it allows you to play a long time before it is evident that you can't win. A recent quote by Josh Mandel on another board is fitting.
The SCI games have always allowed you change directories when the current directory can hold no more save games, even the SCI0 games: Even the AGI games allowed you to change directories for extra save games by typing the path There was never a reason to delete existing save games for the AGI/SCI games.Josho wrote:I think there's a difference between a dead end (which usually comes about because the designer neglected to realize that you could get to a point where you couldn't progress) and an ending that's less than optimal because you made one or more decisions that had consequences down the line. CONQUESTS OF CAMELOT, for instance, has NO dead ends of the former sort.
Ultimately, as has already been stated, it is a matter of taste, but on several boards anyone that has stated having the same reservations as MI or I have had some pretty negative responses as if we have said something blasphemous. In spite of this, most of us have stated that we are going to reserve judgment until we find out what is delivered, but please allow us to state our reservations. They are legitimate concerns.