Thanks Mary

The balloon collector puzzle drains self-confidence, thats its real evil purpose. I think Dogbert designed it...

But if you've made it to the tunnels you are doing well!

and the story *is* cool.

Some bits of Schizm are walkthrough city for the non-mathmaticians (myself included) but others are FUN and its great when you *do* get something.

Even that bridge is fun to beat...the first time.

At least you know that pretty much everybody got stumped by this one somewhere. I think its worse when everyone says a game is easy and I get stuck.

*rooting for you (quietly so you can hear that monk)*

Salar 8)

Salar --

Hey, thanks for your long post. It's interesting to see the developers' perspective, but I think you really hit the problems with Schizm spot on.

What really annoyed me about this game was how many variables each puzzle seemed to have. I guess maybe that IS more realistic --yeah, okay, ghosts traditionally sound funny and we wouldn't necessarily "get" the word breaks in an alien language -- but super realism doesn't always make for an enjoyable puzzle solving experience.

ww

Thanks, Wysewoman. I try not to make too many of those long posts but I thought it worthwhile this time.

IMHO Schizm's main flaw is easy to spot (& its responsible for all the others)

The game designers would make a good puzzle but then found it "too easy" (knowing the answers) so they would add a twist or three until they were sure it would challenge them as players.

I am sure they knew their Argilan nums, degree marks, and sound variables quite well after a year or so working with them! A little extra reverberation wouldn't have thrown them off.

I sincerely enjoyed the story, graphics & machines though I also needed hints (starting with the balloon gas collector), help from my family AND, even with all that, a walkthrough nudge or three to see the surprisingly short ending. Those coordinates had me truly stumped!

Susan <img border="0" alt="" title="" src="graemlins/pacify.gif" />

Well, so far I have only installed Schizm, haven't attempted to play it. As always, I checked for "patches" before installing and there were 4 different ones for various glitches. Not a very good advertisement for the game. Might have a fiddle with it later today.