The Puzzling Nature Of Puzzles

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I think that we have all been here before: stuck in a game because the solution to a puzzle often requires us to beat ourselves over the head with a shovel until we get the same exact kind of concussion that the writers had when coming up with a solution to that problem... And, to a certain extent, that's fine. Some of the best games in history have had that kind of rage-inducing moon logic attached to them. Those largely don't bother me, as they encourage some abstract thinking and provide excuses to interact more with the game world, something we likely wouldn't do as much if the solutions were all straightforward.

What I DO take issue with, however, are those games in which the better solution to a certain puzzle is blatantly obvious, yet you don't get to use it because that's simply not the way it was written to be tackled.

I think my favorite example of this sort of thing comes from "Tequila & Boom-Boom", an Italian graphic adventure already plagued with these.

At one point you have to drug your friend with chloroform in order to steal from him, but your character complains that he has nothing to pour the liquid on... Which would be all fine and dandy, except that both of you are wearing neckerchiefs (!). It's like the game is deliberately taunting you.

​

What about you? Do you have any other examples to share? The more infuriating, the better!

 

[Jambhala]

I remember there being some instances in the Ace Attorney games where there's a piece of evidence that would obviously prove the person guilty but it punishes you for choosing it because you're supposed to pick something else to progress the dialogue. Can't name any specific examples though, since I played them years ago, but I vividly remember getting annoyed at a few sections.

 

[Anim8rDude]

I'm more of a fan when puzzles require you think outside the box, when the solutions are not obvious, maybe infuriating, and maybe sometimes break the fourth wall.

Mini Iceberg:

Surface level - Silent Hill's Piano Puzzle (play the dead keys as the poem kinda hints)

Dark Waters - Paranormasight's Prologue Puzzle
(Was absolutely ecstatic when I figured this one out! A visual-novel game without voice acting requires you to lower the "Voice Volume" in the game's audio settings in order to dodge a game over)

Depths - The Legend of Zelda's Phantom Hourglass Sacred Crest puzzle

 

[ciro64]

I'm more of a fan when puzzles require you think outside the box, when the solutions are not obvious, maybe infuriating, and maybe sometimes break the fourth wall.

Mini Iceberg:

Surface level - Silent Hill's Piano Puzzle (play the dead keys as the poem kinda hints)
View attachment 55615

Dark Waters - Paranormasight's Prologue Puzzle
(Was absolutely ecstatic when I figured this one out! A visual-novel game without voice acting requires you to lower the "Voice Volume" in the game's audio settings in order to dodge a game over)
View attachment 55618

Depths - The Legend of Zelda's Phantom Hourglass Sacred Crest puzzle
View attachment 55614

You reminded me of the puzzle where you have to literally blow the candles (in the DS microphone) to open the door lmao

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

Spoiler: If you plan on playing Beneath A Steel Sky but dont want hours spent hunting for a literal POS three pixels wide :

 

[goregoregoregoregoregore]

Idk if it counts because it's not an electronic game per say, but there is something so addictive about doing chess puzzles. I normally can't concentrate or don't give a flying fuck to puzzles in video-games, but chess makes me feel in a trance for some reason.
I use lichess.org many times when i feel like relaxing

 

[AncientBehemoth]

I remember one stupid puzzle in a hidden objects game. There was that mini bear trap with a key on a trigger mechanism. Games want you to trigger it with a stick, doesn't allow to use any other object to trigger it. Funny thing is you could have easily do it with you hand just from behind of the trap.

 

[bjork]

The first Commodore 64 game I had was called Death in the Caribbean. I think I was 6 or 7 when I got it. It was a graphic adventure where you used two-word commands to do thing (go west, get rock, etc), and the idea was to explore this island and find a treasure, then you win. I played it pretty often, and for a long time due to the load times between individual screens, but never managed to finish it. So fast forward 30 years and I'm playing with a walkthrough, and there were a couple I never would've sorted out:
1. There's a screen with fog that, if you walk into the fog, you die. However, if you open your wine bottle and pour out the wine, fog will rush into the bottle and you can re-cork the bottle. This allows you to hide from a zombie in some caverns later, which you need to do, as the caverns are the only place to find the sword. The sword is used to cut through the fog ("so thick you can cut through it"), but somehow cutting it doesn't make it flood right back like it did with the bottle???
2. When you get through the fog, you have a couple of ways to go, but eventually arrive to area where the treasure is. You dig the chest out and think that's it, then it hits you with the question of which key you want to use

In your inventory, you have no key. The only key you'd managed to encounter previously, unlocks the church and that's the only way to get to the caverns and find the sword. So there is no kind of sequence break to try and keep the key; if you enter the caverns from the other entrance, the zombie cannot be passed and so you can't get the sword if you go the wrong way. So what key is it? Well, foolish child in 1984 or whatever, did you pay attention when you were in the church?

It's sheet music. Okay, so what about it? You're supposed to know the key in which it was written, in this case G. So when it asks which key to use, you simply type "G" and you win. Man, I don't know how to read sheet music NOW, much less back when this was new. Additionally, the sheet music is only visible this way if you actually inspect it, otherwise you get a shot of the organ from further back and the pages are illegible (you might argue they aren't legible here as well due to resolution, but again, I don't read sheet music), so yeah. Seeing the ending was cool way after the fact, but if my 2nd grade self had figured this out back then, I would've called nasa or something to see if they were hiring.

 

[longestseason]

This is a very common issue with graphic adventure games. I had trouble solving a very easy puzzle in Professor Layton and the Curious Village.

This one (spoiler tagged just in case because the website shows the answer):

Spoiler

One Poor Pooch

One Poor Pooch is a puzzle in Professor Layton and the Curious Village. The puzzle must be solved in order to progress the story. US Version The matches below are arranged in the shape of a dog. This poor little guy was just minding his own business when a car came barreling down the road and...

layton.fandom.com

The solution was very obvious but I was still failing

Spoiler

simply because I didn't slightly tilt some matches, even though they were in the correct place.

I also had trouble with some specific puzzles in Hotel Dusk that require you to either

Spoiler

close the DS

or

Spoiler

blow into the mic.

And don't even get me started on the

Spoiler

multi touch puzzles in Hotel Dusk AND Last Window

Edit: why aren't the spoiler tags working?
Edit 2: nevermind, I'm dumb

 

[Anim8rDude]

Okay, so what about it? You're supposed to know the key in which it was written, in this case G. So when it asks which key to use, you simply type "G" and you win.

I mean this in an absolutely funny way, but this is some pretty advance levels of puzzle BS haha.