Quote:
Originally Posted by Mohlin
Define "puzzle"? Isn't an AG one big puzzle? You have to find out who killed who, or an lost item, or to release dead spirits or something.
Isn't it a puzzle to look for the key to open a door, or finding ingredients to make jam?
Or do you define puzzles ONLY as "here and now" puzzles, like sliders to open a safe (hate them myself), or a correct combination for opening a secret passway, or piecing a ripped letter together to find some clues?
I myself play AG because of the puzzles (except the sliders), and it is also the only type of game I play. Take away the puzzles, and what's left? Walking around and talk to people?
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You have a point - in the end, Riven is just one huge "puzzle." To be honest, I think of it more as a riddle, but you're correct, in fact, you could say ANY predicament in life is a puzzle.
How do I get that raise? Is that an inventory or dialogue-tree puzzle? How do I cook the souffle? (Inventory) How do I live a successful, satisfying life (That's a Riven-level puzzle.)
But to to clear up, the puzzles I hate are the ones that do not make sense in the context of the game, are usually puzzle puzzles (sliders, weird ball thing in Myst 3, number puzzles, etc...), or completely go against our intuition (ie, in TLJ if you had to have that key, you'd just jump down and get it with glove, or go buy a glove or a broom, you wouldn't rig [minor spoiler] a deflating inflatable toy with a clamp)*.
Any puzzle that is put in as I've mentioned as a cheap and lazy way to manufacture immersion and engagement with no thought on how it augments or supports the characters or their story - that seems pasted on, are the puzzles I hate. Unfortunately, they seem to be part and parcel of this genre, and I just wish designers would get away from feeling trapped by genres.
* I'll add that this puzzle itself I find jarring and inconsistent, and one of the reason I don't love TLJ, but it is whimsical and fun to complete, but for me, it completely detracts from the main story (as did much of the weak humor). One of the main things that Funcom seemed to be doing in TLJ was create a viable, living, breathing possibly future reality, well adding puzzles like this underscores your intent, because this possible future reality now has people behaving insanely. (I don't want to spoil more, but what about the cop taking a poo...that snaps *crack!* any barrier of believability.)
