Sounds like it could work.
Doesn't it just? And going from the screenshots we've seen, it certainly looks the part.

Lots of groovy locations?
There certainly are. Simon will find himself travelling through such places as gnome villages, magical forests and dwarf mines. He'll find plenty of other colourful characters to interact with too, as the game features over 80 of 'em

Any innovations in this department?
Conversing with the game's other characters was always a major part of a decent point-and-clicker and that's something the developers have paid attention to. There's the usual 'branching conversation' structure, but a 'banter button' has been added which chops out all the small talk and enables players to just get the information they need to continue. That should help us impatient types.

But once you've got to the end of an adventure, there's little replay value.
Generally true, but Simon 3D's going to feature multiple game paths that lead to different endings so there's always the option to go back and do things slightly differently. While this doesn't add masses to the game's replay value, it does add something.

Do say...
I wonder if this old rope will come in handy later?

Don't say...
I need the old rope to get past the boiling kettle? How ridiculous.