also, have you played the Deus Ex series? i think you could find a lot of guidance in how to approach the information gathering issues you're having. i personally love the idea of being left on my own as much as possible to figure out what information is important and what isn't. i despise almost any attempt by the game to put some kind of big flashing arrow right where i need to look. i think the main trick is just good old fashioned creative design. in other words, prep the gamer just enough beforehand throughout the game so that when the information comes at him he'll be ready to critically think through it on his own if he's just clever enough. i realize that's gotta be hard, but i just feel like it's a lost art in so many games today. the idea of really figuring shit out for yourself. even if, as a last resort you have to get hints somewhere, and the solution makes you go OOOOOOOHHH I always found some reward in that. Especially for replay value.
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