Rushes, I envision you sending bento and balcony saved games for Shadows at the Water's Edge in your sleep.

I liked Shadow at the Water's Edge but I do seem to be in a minority here. Get rid of the timed stained-glass puzzle and it would have been golden. I saw Her Interactive having made some improvements in this game (more snooping, more dialogue) as compared to some of the more recent releases, and look forward to The Captive Curse.

Ladies and gentlemen, fire when ready.

Not from me, Marian. I'll join you by the wall with my blindfold on.
I enjoyed the game and thought there's more snoopin' and story on this one than the previous 2. The puzzles are entertaining for me too.

I agree with MaG about the improvement over previous games. But, will admit, the puzzles were way to hard for a great ND mystery game and they still need to dump the hard puzzles. I've also noticed lots of requests for saved games which does take the pleasure out of playing.

Has anyone checked HER message board? I did, even posted a comment that never appeared on any of the threads! Wonder if they buried it on purpose. Not to many happy gamers there either from reading threads in the reviews section. I would think HER might get a "clue" and give us back our ND mystery games. We can only hope. I will say this, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Yes, the puzzles were repetitive. Out of those puzzles which had to be solved in order to make progress in the game, there were 3 Bento logics, 2 Sudokus (including 1 mega one), 2 Nonograms (again, one being mega), and endless Parchinko. If you don't enjoy those types of puzzles then you're sunk. I didn't mind them overall, but I'm thinking on behalf of those gamers tearing their hair out and screaming for saved games.

I haven't started this particular ND game yet but I'm not very good at these sorts of puzzles so maybe I'd better start tearing my hair out now if there are lots of them ....
[Thanks for the timely warnings, Rushes, I'm already girding my loins ]

I'm standing by with the saved games already, Mad.

I've just finished playing Shadow at the Water's Edge & thought it was one of the better Nancy Drews offered over the last few years. I enjoyed nearly, if not all of the puzzles but I only did the minimum as I wasn't aiming for 'awards' at the end! Even the timed puzzle which took me several attempts was quite a nice one to do! I did have a peek at the walkthrough for the bento box puzzles - to no avail as they were random but I got there in the end & cheated on the puzzle box which I got bored with, but apart from that somehow or other I managed to do the enormous soduku & nonogram!

I've got Trail of the Twister but unfortunately can't install it as one of the discs is not quite right! How does that game compare?

I agree with you Chrissie. I also just finished Shadow at Water's Edge and was gratified that actual puzzles have replaced the endless chores we've had to wade through of late. I actually found the Bento puzzles very straightforward logic problems. I completed every nonogram, sudoku, and renogram...in both junior and senior mode as these are the kinds of puzzles I enjoy. You know the object of the puzzle right away...albeit some of the nonograms really didn't look like much of anything when I finished.

I hated the timed puzzles and killed ol' ND off several times before completing them. (I just hate timed puzzles in general.) I actually thought the puzzle box was easier in Senior mode than Junior mode. There were more steps required, but for some reason I stumbled on the solution more quickly.

I've heard that Trail of the Twister wasn't one of the best....and I also have it on my "to be played" pile.

I sure hope that in future games they stick with puzzles over chores.

I enjoyed the puzzles in Trail of the Twister rather more than the ones in Water's Edge. I thought that there was more variety to them. There were an awful lot of chores, though, and barely any story to get your teeth into.

Other than Sudoku puzzles (I don't like them)I have never heard of any of these other puzzles. What are Parchinko and Nonogram etc. puzzles? Guess I am already in trouble when it comes to this game and should just pass on it. Is it Shadow At The Waters Edge that you are referring to or Trail of The Twister? I have TOT but haven't started it.

I hope Captive Curse goes back to a better balance of puzzles and story/snooping etc. Although I didn't mind any of the games in recent years, apart from Ransom of the seven ships (too much driving/sailing and more second chances than i've ever used before!)

Gatsbygirl...We're discussing Shadow at Waters Edge when we are talking about Pachinko and Sudoku. The Pachinko doesns't require anything but tedium. You launch 50 marbles and hope to get them in holes to earn points. You can't control the ball once it is launched. So the scoring just takes time.

Nonograms give you a grid with numbers on the top and sides. You need to block out spaces on the grid based on the numbers given. The ones in junior mode were pretty straightforward.

The Renograms I referred to give you a grid with some numbers already placed from 1 to 56. You need to place the remaining numbers so that you could draw a line (like connecting the dots) to go from 1 to 56 continuously.

If you don't like sudoku I would stay away from this one.

I wonder if in Captive curse that maybe since if youre being held captive that means ur trapped, maybe a cursed spirit is trapped or captive in somebodys body. I know this is kind of a morbid thought but it is possible regar ding the ither games. [

Thanks for the clarification JKEerie! I like crossword puzzles but hate number puzzles so this game isn't for me. Sounds awful!

It is still worth playing, it's not like it's sudoku etc all the way through. If you're unsure though, maybe borrow it if you can or wait till it's going cheap on eBay as it's still enjoyable.

Hi gatsby girl, soduku is a logic puzzle & not a mathematical/numbers one. They usually use numbers but equally nine letters, symbols pictures etc could be used instead. I don't know what category nonograms fall into but I would say more logic than maths? & you can end up with a picture! The renogram where you have to follow a sequence of numbers in a grid is more puzzle too but not one of my favourites! N.B. There is one large soduku & one large nongram to do in SATWE & a few simpler ones to do earlier on but they don't dominate the game. The pachinko game you can speed up by just repeatedly clicking on the mouse to release lots of balls at once - you don't have to fire one ball at a time!

If you really don't like them, you could always use Mag's walkthrough to just skip through the sudoku or nonograms quickly too.
I did the same a what chrissie said with the pachinko, I sat watchin the television just clicking away without really looking!

Thanks for the clarification. Maybe,if I knew how the puzzles work,I would be able to do them. Often (it seems to me) a puzzle is there with no explanation of how to do them. Maybe, a "puzzle person" just knows how to work them so most games assume that is the case? I will keep an open mind and consider putting it on my "to play" list.

MaG explains how to do the puzzles in such a way that helps you understand the principles in her walkthroughs. They should help.

Ana