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It turns out that I had played partway into the Torment of Mont Triste demo when it first released. I keep short descriptions of demos that I’ve played, and for this game I wrote: “Beautifully drawn. Escaped Lord of Nightmares. Going into nightmares concept is appealing. The game is one puzzle right after another.”
I played it through the end of the demo just now, and I liked it better than before. I’m enjoying the comments as I click around (there are very few casual games where I enjoy the comments). And I played for a full 25 minutes (all the time left in the demo) and only had to skip one puzzle. Are the puzzles easier at the beginning?
83/5 for puzzle difficulty. Should I be sensible and be discouraged by that?
83/5 for puzzle difficulty. Should I be sensible and be discouraged by that?
In terms of puzzle difficulty, this was certainly the hardest casual I’ve ever played. And, yes, I think the puzzles are easier in the demo. If the developers gave you the hard ones in the demo, nobody would buy it! 
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
83/5 for puzzle difficulty. Should I be sensible and be discouraged by that?
In terms of puzzle difficulty, this was certainly the hardest casual I’ve ever played. And, yes, I think the puzzles are easier in the demo. If the developers gave you the hard ones in the demo, nobody would buy it!
Thanks for the mention. I will look this one up.
I keep notes on demos played as well. I wondered if I missed Monte Triste, so I looked back. My comment was too easy, so I’m wondering if the puzzles get harder after the demo time. I just played about 20 more minutes and still finding it routine on hardcore mode.
Tim—maybe you’ll be able to best the sphinx cat in Break the Curse
Well I played Break the Curse: The Crimson Gems. It was difficult. I am not a good tangram puzzle solver. Seeing as there were more than a few of those, I used a few skips. You can imagine how much fun I had with Shivers2.
I’m pretty good at mathematical and slider puzzles, so I got through those without much difficulty. As to the sphinx puzzle, you literally must think outside the box. It is difficult to count the number of sides on the forms in the lower area. The sides on the top number are 6-4=2. To get to that number, you have to go negative. I don’t remember the tiles, but you needed to do 5-6+3=2.
You’re right. It was not the usual happy ending. Very unusual in a casual game.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I’ve decided re: Torment of Mont Triste that since the puzzles become so much harder later in the game, for me caution is the better part of valor. I’m taking a pledge to stay away from games with the word “torment” in the title.
As for the sphinx cat puzzle in Break the Curse: The Crimson Gems—I’m still puzzled. Partly this is because, if the number of the sides is to be counted, they ought to be clearly drawn so you can count the sides! I’ve looked at the walkthroughs on Gamezebo and Big Fish, and they show different solutions to this first puzzle, and (from what I can tell) both of those are different from the one Tim mentioned.
I’m naming the shapes in order as they appear in the puzzle: star, triangle, fan, haystack, flattened diamond. I tried posting the puzzle image from the Gamezebo walkthrough, but I couldn’t get it to work with the spoiler tags. So here’s a link to the walkthrough. If you search for “sphinx” it gets you close to the puzzle we’re discussing (scroll down a bit), which shows an image of a cat in Egyptian costume with the puzzle to the right of the image.
The fan shape looks like it has 4 sides, though it is pretty hard to tell. The flat diamond looks like it has 6 sides, though again it isn’t perfectly clear. According to the Gamezebo walkthrough, the solution to this first puzzle is star - fan + flattened diamond. According to the Big Fish walktkhrough, the solution is haystack - triangle + star. Tim’s solution (I believe) is star - flattened diamond (or possibly fan) + triangle.
I’m not sure that I know what to make of this. Perhaps the sphinx cat is switching the solution around and enjoying a laugh at our expense?
I’m not sure that I know what to make of this. Perhaps the sphinx cat is switching the solution around and enjoying a laugh at our expense?
I guess that’s possible. I’ve played a few casuals where a mini-game’s solution appeared to be random. Although in this instance there are only so many equations that can be generated. Assuming, of course, that counting the number of sides on each figure is the key to finding the solution. The only way to find out, I guess is to get a look a the CE version’s strategy guide. However, I’m not that interested.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
Just finished “The Torment of Mont Triste” looking for that cat puzzle you are discussing - not found.
What with all the comment about this game I decided to replay it as I didn’t notice how hard the puzzles were or didn’t remember. And I definitely didn’t remember the cat puzzle.
Did I play the game you are talking about?
Sarahandus—We’ve been talking about two separate games. The Torment of Mont Triste was (sort of) recommended by Tim because of its puzzles, which become quite difficult in the latter part of the game.
We also are discussing Break the Curse: The Crimson Gems which colpet recommended and I (briefly) reviewed, and Tim then played. It’s Break the Curse which has the dastardly cat puzzle in it.
I took another look at one of my previous posts and realized that it was confusing. I edited it to make it more obvious that the sphinx cat puzzle is in Break the Curse.
Just curious—what did you think of Torment overall, and also in terms of the puzzle difficulty?
I was going to say the same thing and ask the same question. First, both games got mentioned in the same message several times. Cat/Sphinx puzzle = Break the Curse. Sorry for the confusion. But, I’m also interested in your thoughts re: the Torment puzzles. I found them to be quite difficult. Particularly as the game progressed. But, there are a few that I might have classified as difficult but were simply so tedious that I didn’t feel like taking an “easy” puzzle to its 25-minute conclusion.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
Sorry for the confusion,At 4AM some times I don’t really pay that much attention, or something.
I found the puzzles in Mont Triste to increase in difficulty as you went along, as you say. I would class them as moderate to hard. There were some where I agree with you Tim that it wasn’t so much the difficulty as the process to get there. I just didn’t have enough patience to deal with them.
I have played the other game too, but tend to forget about them almost immediately after finishing. Don’t remember the cat and shapes, but if there was math involved I probably skipped it. Have to replay that game, at least I remember enjoying it.
I really enjoy the reviews and comments from all of the ones here very much, please keep up the good work.
There is a 60% Off sale at BFG this weekend. So I bought the two games. Off the Record - The Italian Affair and Legend of the Snow Kingdom I commented on earlier. As I complete them I’ll post my thoughts/review.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I finished Off the Record - The Italian Affair and Legend of the Snow Kingdom. Sorry for the delay getting back to everyone. First, as it ended up, it was close to three weeks between the time I finished the demos of both games and the time I started to play them again. In both instances I started where the demo ended and things didn’t go smoothly. So, I replayed them from scratch again.
Off the Record - The Italian Affair is a very enjoyable, albeit easy game. You play the role of the protagonist who is both a well-known journalist and a detective of sorts. (There was an earlier game in the series, and it is referred to on several occasions. Although in no instance did I feel that knowledge of the first game was necessary to successfully complete this one.)
There has been a robbery at the Marco Polo Museum in Venice. The robbery is similar to a series of robberies that were committed five years earlier by a thief that goes by the name La Volpe, the fox. Your editor sends you to cover the story. Conveniently you were going to be in the area anyway while on vacation. When you get to Venice you are contacted by La Volpe, both in person and through intermediaries. He states that he didn’t commit the latest robbery, and that you need to help him to clear his name. The story is well-written and plausible, or as plausible as any early Mission Impossible television show.
During you detective work you run into and interact with various characters: an ex fiancé of La Volpe, a street vendor, a gondola pilot and a police detective to name a few. The voice acting of these characters is OK but not great. The dialog scenes are a little disconcerting. Each dialog scene consists of three separate entities: the main screen where the dialog takes place, (The character’s mouth doesn’t move in this screen.) a cameo screen showing the character’s head (with mouth moving,) and a caption screen. I found it best just to read the caption screen while listening to the dialog.
The HO scenes are straightforward. As all the action takes place in current time, none of the objects are out of period. The puzzles are relatively easy. There is one though that is used several times throughout the game that irritated me. Fairly early in the game you will gain access to a camera that will be put in your permanent inventory. The camera will be used in six scenes during the course of the game. To use the camera you will have to find six filters, each of which has a separate purpose. Using the camera and mating it with the filter to take the picture is not as easy as it sounds. I must have been on my fourth picture before I got it right.
Graphics are quite good, but I have no way of knowing if they are technically accurate. There’s a scene that takes place in St. Mark’s Square, for example. It looks good, but if I were to compare it to a photograph of same, I would probably be disappointed. The music is appropriate to the scene, although it’s a bit amped up for my taste. I reduced the level down to 40% to keep it from overpowering everything else.
Interestingly, the game plays longer that its ease would suggest. My guess is that most people would get a good 5.5+ hours of gameplay out of it. I think it’s a good
3.5/5.
I’ll try to get the Legend of the Snow Kingdom knocked out in the next day or three.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I tried “Off the Record- The Italian Affair” some time back and have it listed as glitchy.
From your report I may have to give it another try.
I always go to the options first thing and lower the music volume.
However just started playing “Cadenza - Music, Betrayal and Death” and promptly went back to options and raised the music volume. That’s the best part of the game, if you like jazz.
Tim—thanks for the review of Off the Record - The Italian Affair. I was attracted to this game when it first released (who wouldn’t want to spent time in Venice?) but read in the Big Fish forums that, in this game, there are paved roads where canals ought to be. Did you see any canals?
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