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Adventure Game Scene of the Day — Sunday 15 July 2012

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Ah, Schizm… Incredibly beautiful, incredibly hard — but never unfair.(*) I love it.

(*) Except that coordinates conversion puzzle, which I’m still convinced is wrong.

     
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Pretty pictures. Pointless puzzles.

     

An adventure game is nothing more than a good story set with engaging puzzles that fit seamlessly in with the story and the characters, and looks and sounds beautiful.
Roberta Williams

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I played Schizm for the first time four years ago, managed to play a nice chunk of it, but then I got stuck in some kind of a Buddhist temple and I gave up (I remember a Chinese guy coming out of a hidden corridor behind a statue, some huge room with a lot of scaffolds and some kind of a geometry puzzle were the last I saw in Schizm).

Great looking game, but I’m afraid I’m not clever enough for that game. At least I wasn’t clever enough.

     

Everybody wants to be Cary Grant.
Even Me.

-Cary Grant

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I hated Schizm. Unfinished. I would definitely call those terrible puzzles unfair. You need perfect pitch, a degree in geometry and algebra, and tons of patience.

     

Now playing: ——-
Recently finished: don’t remember
Up next:  Eh…
Looking forward to:
Ithaka of the Clouds; The Last Crown; all the kickstarter adventure games I supported

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Having played Riven, dealing with alien number systems was a breeze! (OK, I’m exaggerating, that coordinates puzzle was hard but “do-able”.) I’d like to meet anyone who solved the gas collector puzzle without a walkthrough! Confused The game where you have to win against the computer twice to lower both railroad bridges (with no opportunity to save in between!) nearly drove me insane.

I’m one of the few who actually liked the game enough to buy the Schizm soundtrack Mini Smile, but I could never find the DVD version of the game with better-looking graphics and extra puzzles.

     

Diabolus ex Machina since 1993

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So pretty, so bad gameplay. I cheated my way through almost it all.

     
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Trunkyo the Mangrees and Camoudile at Myst Revelation are the most annoying Puzzle of them ALL (Myst series)  even than that gas collector puzzle

     
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Trunkyo - 15 July 2012 01:39 PM

Having played Riven, dealing with alien number systems was a breeze! (OK, I’m exaggerating, that coordinates puzzle was hard but “do-able”.)

I’ve replayed the game about a year ago, and I’m convinced there’s something fishy about this puzzle. Ultimately, they want you to do arithmetic with a numeral system that doesn’t have a zero, and that’s just unhealthy.

I’d like to meet anyone who solved the gas collector puzzle without a walkthrough! Confused

Not me! I think the biggest problem with this puzzle is that it’s one of the few for which the rules are very unclear. If you knew what the rules were, it wouldn’t be hard — not because you can come up with the solution yourself, but because it’s a very old puzzle that everyone is familiar with (“You have ten bags of coins. One of the bags is filled with fake coins, which are lighter than the real ones. Blah blah blah…”).

I’m one of the few who actually liked the game enough to buy the Schizm soundtrack Mini Smile, but I could never find the DVD version of the game with better-looking graphics and extra puzzles.

I’ve only played the DVD version. I’ve never known clearly if it only has extra (useless) story videos, or if it adds locations/puzzles.

     
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Kurufinwe - 16 July 2012 12:24 AM

I think the biggest problem with this puzzle is that it’s one of the few for which the rules are very unclear. If you knew what the rules were, it wouldn’t be hard — not because you can come up with the solution yourself, but because it’s a very old puzzle that everyone is familiar with (“You have ten bags of coins. One of the bags is filled with fake coins, which are lighter than the real ones. Blah blah blah…”).

In 2002 I was still active at Gameboomers and the Detalion developer dropped in from time to time. We once had a short and polite conversation about this very puzzle. He was convinced it was totally doable. I said it required a certain mathematical mindset that many players, including me, don’t have. He didn’t understand what I was talking about.

     

Now playing: ——-
Recently finished: don’t remember
Up next:  Eh…
Looking forward to:
Ithaka of the Clouds; The Last Crown; all the kickstarter adventure games I supported

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I hate Schizm. It’s one of the few games I never finished and have no intention of finishing. Simply because I can’t finish it. Even with a walkthrough I got stuck because I don’t understand the solution given in the walkthrough. I’m terrible at math and physics and don’t like doing it at all.

     
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Pah! Too hard? You’ve all been spoiled by the increasing ease of adventures in these modern times. Now back in my day…

     
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Oscar - 16 July 2012 08:49 AM

Pah! Too hard? You’ve all been spoiled by the increasing ease of adventures in these modern times. Now back in my day…

Sure we are all spoiled with the new (((Modern)) Adventures, that tend easiness for targeting more of the mass spectators and i am sure you too Oscar and me as well (spoiled) , i said it once before in the old Forums that i needed to peek into the walkthrough twice in order to finish (IA)Space Quest2 Remake , though i had finished it 20 years ago (did it) without.

but that is not just the case there are really some certain games that even with the use of a Walkthrough, does not (surly/Granteely) get you through the it/Puzzle !!

     
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Fien - 16 July 2012 03:33 AM

I said it required a certain mathematical mindset that many players, including me, don’t have.

I completely agree with that. Schizm requires you to figure out how the problem works, what its rules are, through observation and experimentation, so that you can boil everything down to a logic or maths problem. And then you grab a piece of paper, work the solution out and move on. It’s a game for physicists — which is why I love it so much, and why so many people don’t get it: it requires a very particular mindset (and does absolutely nothing to educate players so that they can get into this mindset, which is definitely bad design).

That makes it pretty much one of a kind. Lots of adventure games, with their inventory puzzles, are games for engineers (the poster boy for that category being probably Return to Mysterious Island), but that’s a somewhat different mindset. I wouldn’t want all my games to be like Schizm, but I wish there were more games requiring this physicist mindset.

(And I’ll take that any day over “wacky logic”. The idea that putting whole peanuts and butter together and letting them sit in the sun is going to produce peanut butter — rather than a bunch of peanuts sitting in animal oil — requires a mindset that I absolutely cannot get into.)

(Speaking of which, it’s time to post today’s AGSD!)

     
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.

I’ve only played the DVD version. I’ve never known clearly if it only has extra (useless) story videos, or if it adds locations/puzzles.

In order to fit the game onto 5 CDs, the graphics were compressed, so the scenery looked fuzzier compared to the DVD version. The telescope/Morse code puzzle was eliminated. Also, more of the mission logs could be accessed in the DVD version (they were conveniently ‘wiped’ in the CD version). BTW, the game’s readme file contains the full solution to the gas collector puzzle.

     

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Trunkyo - 15 July 2012 01:39 PM

I’m one of the few who actually liked the game enough to buy the Schizm soundtrack Mini Smile

Thank you for putting this into my head! Grin

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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