So, since you've cleared up my timeline some, I would much rather have been (and be) playing any of the Infocom games than any Robta. Williams game.

Nothing wrong with that, you like what you like. I just wanted to clear up the timeline issues, because the distorted timeline was the only thing holding up the "graphics don't tie in to gameplay" argument. You can say all you want about the Sierra games (Roberta-written and otherwise) but they really took adventure games to the next level, and the tight integration of graphics and gameplay (again, for the time, not by today's standards) is really what made them stand out. I loved the Zork trilogy myself, but the Sierra games added a new dimension to the gameplay that you just couldn't get from a text-based dungeon game, no matter how inventive.