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Old 08-13-2006, 01:02 PM   #281
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Some of those 'go here, go back, then go here, etc.' puzzles don't bother me. Maybe I'm used to going long distances from all the road trips I took as a kid.

I always thought it'd be great if I could get the benefits of all the walking some characters have to do. Get some exercise in while playing the game.
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Old 08-13-2006, 01:20 PM   #282
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I guess that is why the main characters in adventure games are all slim jims. All that walking back and forth and they never eat anything.

On the other hand all the NPC's could do with being fatter. They all stand in the same place for hours on end and never get any exercise.
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Old 08-13-2006, 01:39 PM   #283
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucien21
On the other hand all the NPC's could do with being fatter. They all stand in the same place for hours on end and never get any exercise.
Oh, I don't know... I'll bet Stan from Monkey Island has REALLY toned forearms as a result of all that gesturing he does.
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Old 08-13-2006, 08:41 PM   #284
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucien21
I guess that is why the main characters in adventure games are all slim jims. All that walking back and forth and they never eat anything.
The newest crisis in adventure games - Eating disorders or why Kate Walker could never run up any stairs (too weak from not eating).

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On the other hand all the NPC's could do with being fatter. They all stand in the same place for hours on end and never get any exercise.
Dwayne and Pearl Henderson!
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Old 08-15-2006, 01:38 AM   #285
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Melanie68
or why Kate Walker could never run up any stairs (too weak from not eating).
That is very frustrating. I'm playing Syberia at the moment and it annoys me that she walks the stairs although she's been running towards them and she also has the strangest way of running. Looks like she needs to go to the bathroom.
But I guess she doesn't have to since she never eats.
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Old 08-15-2006, 02:35 AM   #286
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Or drinks for that matter
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Old 09-23-2006, 05:57 PM   #287
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At least most of the tough nuts in Shivers are very old classic puzzles that you can look up in puzzle books. Which is what I ended up doing with the marble solitaire puzzle - this is purely mathematical, and it's something you can either do or you can't.

The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour (in my opinion) aren't really adventures so much as puzzle collections with a storyline running through them. The 11th Hour makes it clearer that at the end of each "level" is a game played against Stauf, not just an ordinary puzzle - sort of the equivalent of a level boss.

Yes, the bacteria game in The 7th Guest is a nasty one. If anyone's still stuck on it, here are a few tips. Play aggressively, REALLY aggressively. You can learn some strategy by seeing how Stauf plays - if you can predict what move he'll make every turn, you're learning. And finally, Stauf usually plays with computer-perfect accuracy, always making the best possible move each turn. But every now and then, very very rarely, he screws up. This is your big break, as long as you can spot it and take advantage of the opportunity.

Two frustratingly illogical puzzles that stick out in my memory come from the very first Zork. One room is terribly noisy and echo-ey, so you can't stand to stay in it long enough to pick up the gold bar (or was it a platinum bar?) in the middle of the floor.
Spoiler:
What you have to do is say "echo", and that changes the acoustics of the room so you can stay in it. I tried saying a lot of different things in there, but never "echo". It's just not something you say.


Even worse than that was the rainbow puzzle. It's fairly obvious that you need to find some way to use a rainbow as a bridge across the gorge.
Spoiler:
It turns out that what you have to do is take the sceptre from your treasure collection to the foot of the rainbow, then wave it like a magic wand, thus turning the rainbow solid. Now, who thinks of waving a sceptre? If the thing had been described as a wand, I would have thought of it.

Last edited by Davies; 09-24-2006 at 03:58 AM. Reason: Make spoiler invisible
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Old 09-23-2006, 06:23 PM   #288
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Panthera View Post
Other puzzles that REALLY irritates me are in Ghost master: (not a adventure game I know, but) getting the person who whizzles the correct tune to enter the room with the dead pianist(Edit: I actually managed to free him, and it was on purpose! (I think.. )), or scaring the mafia boss into the room where he's supposed to gamble(This one I haven't been able to free).. Even walkthroughs can't tell you the correct way to achive this.. or next level in the hospital, where you're supposed to get the kid to leave the bathroom and go to the other kid (I know there's a different solution to this one, I just can't bring myself to continue the game..)
The gambling is the easiest part of the yacht level, and you should do it first before working on anything else. Don't try to force anybody into the roulette room - people will keep drifting in on their own as long as they're not scared. You need to use Lucky the cat, and attach him (her?) to the roulette wheel, then use her (his?) Luckstorm powers only. Don't use any scary electrical powers. When a luck-enhanced person comes to gamble, they'll win. It doesn't have to be the boss.

The whistling chef is just annoying. All you can do is set a ghost in the piano room to cause as much attraction as possible, but I don't think this does much good, because the piano room is so far away from where the action is. It's mainly just a question of waiting until the chef wanders in by himself. He will eventually.

In the hospital level, notice that the bully tends to spend a lot of time hanging around in the bathroom. Use the Fetch (mirror ghost - can't remember her name), attach her to the mirror in that bathroom, and have her duplicate his form (can't remember the name of the power either! but you know what I mean). He will faint and she will pick up the toy bunny and leave with it. This duplicate power is expensive, so as soon as she's far enough away, bench her. The bunny will be left on the floor. Eventually someone else will pick it up. What you're hoping for is that the person who picks it up is someone who will go into the male ward. If a female patient has the bunny, you can scare her enough so she'll drop it. As soon as anyone brings the bunny through the door of the male ward, it will be returned to its rightful owner.

Or you could just scare the bully enough to make him drop the toy, but this is less elegant, and he is more likely to pick it up again when he calms down.

One good bit of strategy in the hospital level is to use Clatterclaw the spider, and post her in the stairwell, using all her powers (which is still very cheap to run). There's plenty of people coming and going on the stairs, and they'll get creeped out every time. This will help keep your power level up without much trouble or supervision, and without scaring too many people away too early.
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Old 09-23-2006, 07:03 PM   #289
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Loved Ghost Master, wish it had sold better. My favorite level was the one with the ghost-chicken, lol...Poultrygeist. Would have loved to have seen an expansion pack, or even a full sequel. Man, even just talking about it makes me want to replay it...
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Old 09-23-2006, 09:31 PM   #290
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Originally Posted by LeisureSuitedLooney View Post
Would have loved to have seen an expansion pack, or even a full sequel. Man, even just talking about it makes me want to replay it...
Have you played the UK version with the bonus scenario and complete ending?
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Old 09-23-2006, 09:39 PM   #291
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No, only the one released here, North America...I hear the bonus mission isn't compatible, as it was designed for the UK version...
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Old 09-23-2006, 10:27 PM   #292
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Originally Posted by LeisureSuitedLooney View Post
No, only the one released here, North America...I hear the bonus mission isn't compatible, as it was designed for the UK version...
Yes, but the US version can be modified to accept the Bonus Mission patch.
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Old 09-23-2006, 11:59 PM   #293
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Hey guys, I'm new to the board (as a matter of fact, I only registered to be able to tell you this story^^).

I still consider that as the most ingenius "puzzle" ever to be umm... "exist" in a game lol.

I'm talking about Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Harbinger
While not a particulary good game, I still could enjoy it (for I'm a Trekkie^^)

But at one point quite close to the end, I was supposed to activate a hologram. However, whenever I did that just another hologram would appear. At first I thought I had to somehow fix something, because the other hologram was referring to some... problems.

However, after countless hours of mindlessly running around, trying to find something new, I consulted a walkthrough, which told me that I shall activate the hologram. Nothing else. Umm. I then restarted the game and followed the walkthrough to the letter. Still, the hologram would not activate properly. I got a litte bit confused then.

In some rare moment of geniosity, the thought appeared to my mind "what if it's some bug?" I then compared the contents of the CD's to the files on my harddrive and actually, there was one single file (with the name of the hologram) missing from the HD, whereas it would be on the CD. After copying said file, the hologram would activate without further delay.

Normally, such a thing should piss you off extremely hard, but the moment I saw that holo come up, I just began to laugh so hard, because, if that would have been done deliberatly, it would've been somehow extremly genius, and even somehow fitting into the Trek theme.

For the most frustrating puzzle, apart from that: The Bet-Puzzle from Grim Fandango. I have read like a dozen walkthroughs on it and I'm still not able to grasp the concept behind the puzzle.
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Old 09-24-2006, 12:09 AM   #294
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Riven, the animal statue 'puzzle'.

Stupidly hard, didn't even make sense with a walkthrough.

Killed Myst for me, I lost all will to finish Riven and didn't bother with the third one despite buying it.
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Old 09-24-2006, 12:16 AM   #295
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well there are many puzzles that frustrate in all of the monkey island series and in grim fandango but the one that frustrated me the most was the Escape from monkey island monkey cmbat and the lava bit where you have to push the log into the pool of lava...its annoying cos u know what to do but its too hard to do it!
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Old 09-24-2006, 03:52 AM   #296
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One puzzle that my husband will never let me forget was in the Amiga game Metal Mutant - not strictly an adventure, sort of a platformy action-adventury thing. Your character is a robot that acquires the ability to change to different forms, each with different special abilities.

At one point you have to get through a room where there is a ferocious monster that attacks relentlessly. The only way to defend against the monster is to use your shield ability, which gives total protection but immobilises you. The only thing you can do while the shield is up is to release a tiny insect-sized drone that has no fighting ability.

When you enter the room, you have a second or two to react. I tried everything in that second or two. Nothing worked. You can't kill the monster, you can't jump over it, nothing. And as I sat there glumly immobile with my shield up, my husband (who has no interest in computer games) said:
Spoiler:
"What's that little button on the wall?"

That was 12 or 15 years ago now, and he still reminds me regularly of how he rescued a game for me.

Last edited by Davies; 09-24-2006 at 03:54 AM. Reason: Make spoiler invisible
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Old 09-24-2006, 04:22 AM   #297
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Grey View Post
Yes, but the US version can be modified to accept the Bonus Mission patch.
Thanks, didn't know that....maybe I'll do a search, see if I can find the bonus mission download, and some instructions on modifying...this was a great game, any excuse to replay it works, lol!
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Old 09-24-2006, 04:50 AM   #298
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LeisureSuitedLooney View Post
Thanks, didn't know that....maybe I'll do a search, see if I can find the bonus mission download, and some instructions on modifying...this was a great game, any excuse to replay it works, lol!
The bonus scenario patch is pretty easy to get, but you'll need a few other files that are hard to find. If you want 'em - along with instructions, just send me a PM.
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Old 09-24-2006, 08:09 AM   #299
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wow i encountered one frustrating puzzle for me today.
I was playing NiBuRu.

And i was in office, hacking with Barbora's Computer. I tryied all the passwords i could come up.
*sigh*
Spoiler:
Finally I checked walkthrough (bad thing to do)..and this "great" cat(Felix) picture on table,turned upside-down..jaaai...How the hell i had to come up on that? So password was Felix backwards.


I don't know you guys but that was hard-one. But now later it makes all sense....Just...*sigh*
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Last edited by Dale Baldwin; 09-24-2006 at 08:10 AM. Reason: spoiler tags
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Old 09-24-2006, 10:17 AM   #300
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I didnt read the thread but whenever this topic arises I always respond with the goat puzzle from Broken Sword. It takes the cake and rapes it.
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