[Sage]

When playing an adventure game, have you ever come across spots where you get the distinct impression a puzzle or inventory item should be, yet there is none there? Some examples:
"The Crystal Key"- The store room on the space station has several large cases and ladders laying around, but you can't interact with any of them.
"The Crystal Key"- You can see into the engine room on the ship you have to steal, but you can't enter it.
"Zork-Nemesis"- In the Colonel's fortress, there are at least three doors that won't open, yet all are very obvious and well-rendered.
Were these tempting areas put in the games to tease curious gamers, or are they remnants of things deleted to make the games fit on a minimum number of disks?
Has anyone else noticed such things? If so, in which games?

Thrifty

[LauraMac]

Hey!! what are you doing talkin adventure games in Chit Chat


I thought I was in the wrong forum.

Naughty Boy
Scott

[Intrepid Homoludens]

I don't remember that much, but the one time it really stuck out sorely was when I played The Messenger, but it had specifically to with an incosistency in the story as per your treasure hunt. The game's story had you searching for four artifacts in different periods in history. Here's a recount of it from my Epinion.com review of the game:

There was also another major flaw imbedded in the introduction of the story which, for an adventure game, spells s-u-i-c-i-d-e. While listening to Morgana's father's tape, he mentions two items he had found during the excavation in the museum. One of them was, of course, the lion incense burner. Naturally, I thought I needed to find that and the other thing. So I kept going round and round, tracing and re-tracing my steps, panning the cursor everywhere in the museum, looking for that second item before going back in time. I never found it. Eventually, using a walkthrough, I located it. It was hidden somewhere in the Middle Ages, not, as Morgana's father had stated, where he found it during the present time. Big mistake on the game's part.

And yeah, Scottsie. This is definitely a good topic for Adventure, so let's move it.

[Sage]

Mea Culpa.
I did actually angst over which area to post this thread in...Chit-Chat or Adventure, Adventure or Chit-Chat?
I finally flipped a coin to decide, figuring that if I chose wrong it would be moved...

...and it was.

Thrifty

[artwking4]

I know there are many doors in Syberia that don't open, but it still tricks you into clicking them just to try. I hated that. But other times, for other games, it's actually okay. Wanting something I can't have occasionally enhances the game experience.

[Catnip]

I remember being so irritated with Cameron Files: Secret of Loch Ness when I was in the attic room and saw a million things I should have been able to explore, and I wasn't able to do so.

Also, I think it was in the same game (correct me if I am wrong, because I am not sure), there was a bathroom set up on a pedestal area in a bedroom (an older lady was in a bed over to the side) and we could interact with a few things, and I was just sure that there would be a puzzle in that bathroom, but there wasn't one. Am I talking about the right game? This is going to drive me crazy now.

[Antoinetta]

Yes, Catnip, that is all in Cameron Files I: Loch Ness

Antoinetta

[Sage]

Originally Posted by Catnip

I remember being so irritated with Cameron Files: Secret of Loch Ness when I was in the attic room and saw a million things I should have been able to explore, and I wasn't able to do so.

Also, I think it was in the same game (correct me if I am wrong, because I am not sure), there was a bathroom set up on a pedestal area in a bedroom (an older lady was in a bed over to the side) and we could interact with a few things, and I was just sure that there would be a puzzle in that bathroom, but there wasn't one.

Those are exactly the sort of things I mean. After you've played a game for a while, especially some of the older ones that aren't terribly well-rendered, you get a feel for where the puzzles are. You learn to spot rooms where tchachkes are particularly clear rather than just wallpaper-like decoration, and it's frustrating when you pixel-hunt over the whole room, but there's no puzzle.

I just thought of another one from Zork-Nemesis: The (avoiding a spoiler-let's just say three prominent items in the library)...I just knew there was a puzzle there, or at least an easter egg, but nada.

Thrifty

[PCgamefan]

In Sanitarium, you actually get a red herring.

I picked up a blood-red fish late in the game and tried like mad to find a use for it, to no avail. But I still finished the game. It finally occurred to me that the fish was a literal red herring.

[artwking4]

Originally Posted by PCgamefan

In Sanitarium, you actually get a red herring.

I picked up a blood-red fish late in the game and tried like mad to find a use for it, to no avail. But I still finished the game. It finally occurred to me that the fish was a literal red herring.

Secret of Monkey Island had one, too. I think.

Yeah, but that was a real puzzle item.

The hubcap in DOTT is all I can think of.

[Jazhara7]

The Chainsaw in Maniac Mansion...and the Chainsaw Fuel in Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders.



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[WRMW]

Not really a red herring, but you (can) get a picture of April Ryan and her friends in TLJ, at the very beginning of the game, but you can't use it at all through the whole game. As far as I know, it's not an alternative solution to a puzzle either (like some objects in BS2, GK3 for example). It's just useless. It bothered me through the whole game, trying to reason ways to use it.

[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by WRMW

Not really a red herring, but you (can) get a picture of April Ryan and her friends in TLJ, at the very beginning of the game, but you can't use it at all through the whole game. As far as I know, it's not an alternative solution to a puzzle either (like some objects in BS2, GK3 for example). It's just useless. It bothered me through the whole game, trying to reason ways to use it.

I think they used it to give more depth to the characters, story, and game in general.

That she keeps a photo of her friends in her room shows that she is really close to them. She doesn't even has a photo of her family there! But she has a photo of her friends, giving the impression that they are more of a family to her, than her adoptive parents ever were.

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[ski]

Jack Orlando comes to mind...

[IMJ]

George's "lucky piece of coal" in Broken Sword 2 springs to mind... there are a couple of times in the game where you can use it to produce some entertaining results, but it doesn't actually act as the solution to anything...

[Pelican]

The freeware adventure 'The White Chamber' has a bit of a red herring in it. You can pick up a fire extinguisher near the start, and there's a room with a fire in it. Naturally, you would think that you'd use the extinguisher to put out the fire, but its put out another way, and the extinguisher isn't apparently used for anything in the game.

[WRMW]

Originally Posted by Jazhara7

That she keeps a photo of her friends in her room shows that she is really close to them. She doesn't even has a photo of her family there! But she has a photo of her friends, giving the impression that they are more of a family to her, than her adoptive parents ever were.

Keeping a picture of your close friends in your room is one thing, but hauling it around while journeying to other worlds... doesn't it seem a little excessive? It could have served the same purpose as a hotspot and not necessarily an inventory item. Oh well, it's not exactly a big deal. I did read once that it was intended to be part of a puzzle, but the puzzle was cut... Whether or not that's true though...

[Hamham Chan]

Originally Posted by WRMW

Not really a red herring, but you (can) get a picture of April Ryan and her friends in TLJ, at the very beginning of the game, but you can't use it at all through the whole game. As far as I know, it's not an alternative solution to a puzzle either (like some objects in BS2, GK3 for example). It's just useless. It bothered me through the whole game, trying to reason ways to use it.

In many AG you can pick up items that you never use in the game, they just sit and collect dust in you´re inventory.Like the "staple remover" in Secret of Monkey Island, has anyone ever found a use for that thing?

Zak McKracken avoids this problem, in that game you can find a use for all you´re items.

[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by WRMW

Keeping a picture of your close friends in your room is one thing, but hauling it around while journeying to other worlds... doesn't it seem a little excessive? It could have served the same purpose as a hotspot and not necessarily an inventory item. Oh well, it's not exactly a big deal. I did read once that it was intended to be part of a puzzle, but the puzzle was cut... Whether or not that's true though...

Well, some people haul around pictures of their family. Don't ask me why.

I personally prefer to haul around a picture of a sunset which I took with my camera in Luxor, Egypt.

But you might be right, that it was originally intended for a puzzle.


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