GAMEBOOMERS provides you with all the latest PC adventure computer games information, forum, walkthroughs, reviews and news.

GB Reviews

Latest & Upcoming Adventure Games

GB Annual Game Lists

GB Interviews

BAAGS

GB @ acebook

About Us

Walkthroughs

free games galore

Game Publishers & Developers

World of Adventure

Patches

GB @ witter

GameBoomers Store

Print Thread
Page 1 of 3 1 2 3
What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? #1104787
03/21/17 10:08 AM
03/21/17 10:08 AM
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 80
Croatia
ViktorTheBoar Offline OP
Shy Boomer
ViktorTheBoar  Offline OP
Shy Boomer

Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 80
Croatia
We got some reviews and people tend to have minor complaints about all sorts of things, so I'm wandering what game boomers dislike in their adventure games smile

These are the puzzle types that come to mind, so you could have something to choose or add:

- Standard inventory puzzles - use item with object or person

- Conversation puzzles - you need to follow a certain branch of conversation. It usually means going to the whole conversation to find what you are missing

- Reflex puzzles - doing something while a character's head is turned the other way or while a character is ready to help you at a certain moment

- Hidden objects - when you need to locate a certain number or word or object in the playfield

- Math puzzles - can be found in any type of puzzle, but you need to do some counting, adding or something similar

- Puzzle puzzles laugh - often in first person mode, you need to connect some wires or click some buttons or draw on some maps or something along those lines

Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1104790
03/21/17 10:26 AM
03/21/17 10:26 AM
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 83,268
In the Naughty Corner
BrownEyedTigre Offline
The Sassy Admin and PR Liaison
BrownEyedTigre  Offline
The Sassy Admin and PR Liaison
Sonic Boomer

Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 83,268
In the Naughty Corner
If there is one thing I've learned here in my 13 years of moderating is that you will never, ever please everyone! One mans garbage is another's treasure! It's good to listen to feedback but you will never make a "perfect" game that everyone will enjoy.

For me, mazes are a nightmare and anything requiring action eg. stealth, speed, dexterity.

Ana wave


Don't feed the Trolls
Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1104798
03/21/17 10:47 AM
03/21/17 10:47 AM
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 20,006
Near St. Louis, MO
Draclvr Offline
Reviews Editor - Hints/Glitches Mod - Site Support
Draclvr  Offline
Reviews Editor - Hints/Glitches Mod - Site Support
True Blue Boomer

Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 20,006
Near St. Louis, MO
Timed puzzles of any sort for me...


Gardens put to bed for the winter. Time for some gaming!
Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1104799
03/21/17 10:51 AM
03/21/17 10:51 AM
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 1,085
Kiev, Ukraine
Iurii Offline
Addicted Boomer
Iurii  Offline
Addicted Boomer

Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 1,085
Kiev, Ukraine
I agree about anything requiring actions - that is not something you would expect in an adventure game, so it is better to avoid them altogether!

Still, I think it is not actions that Viktor describes as 'Reflex puzzles' - there could be quite some time to act while a character's head is turned the other way. For me, even the 'kill the roaches' or 'race' mini-games in 'Viktor' were acceptable because they did not require so much action smile

In general, it is very nice to see a variety of puzzles in adventure games! My least favorite are color puzzles though, as I am rather color-blind...

Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1104806
03/21/17 12:30 PM
03/21/17 12:30 PM
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 1,832
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
judith Offline
Addicted Boomer
judith  Offline
Addicted Boomer

Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 1,832
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
For me it's timed puzzles & slider puzzles.


A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.
Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1104811
03/21/17 12:57 PM
03/21/17 12:57 PM
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 9,029
the dusty desert
niteowl07 Offline
BAAG Specialist
niteowl07  Offline
BAAG Specialist

Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 9,029
the dusty desert
i love sliders ! lol

i would say timed puzzles ,and mazes to a certain degree - i'm

not so fast anymore , and i've never had a good sense of direction lol

Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1104818
03/21/17 01:37 PM
03/21/17 01:37 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644
southeast USA
Jenny100 Offline
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
Jenny100  Offline
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
Sonic Boomer

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644
southeast USA

I don't consider timed and reflex-dependent sequences to be adventure game puzzles at all, and they certainly have no place in one of the very, very few game genres that people with poor or nonexistent reflexes are able to play.

Peoples' reflexes are all over the map, and the same sequence can be trivial for some players while being impossible for others. Skips are a workaround but not a solution. Would you really want to play a game where you have to skip half of it? It would be better if the developers did not include anything that depends on reflexes in an adventure game.

Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1104819
03/21/17 01:41 PM
03/21/17 01:41 PM
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 20,006
Near St. Louis, MO
Draclvr Offline
Reviews Editor - Hints/Glitches Mod - Site Support
Draclvr  Offline
Reviews Editor - Hints/Glitches Mod - Site Support
True Blue Boomer

Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 20,006
Near St. Louis, MO
Yes to what Jenny said! That's fine for my shooters and RPG's, but not for my adventures.


Gardens put to bed for the winter. Time for some gaming!
Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1104823
03/21/17 02:41 PM
03/21/17 02:41 PM
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 205
Finland
T
TJL Offline
Settled Boomer
TJL  Offline
Settled Boomer
T

Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 205
Finland
Music puzzles! The barrel organ puzzle in Goetia comes first to my mind. Even hours of tryin didn't help me to recreate the melody heard on gramophone with punched cards and barrel organ. Total nightmare for tone deaf people but I'm sure some people find them easy.

Timo

Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: TJL] #1104827
03/21/17 03:17 PM
03/21/17 03:17 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 34,312
United Kingdom
Mad Offline
Sonic Boomer
Mad  Offline
Sonic Boomer

Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 34,312
United Kingdom
I, too, agree with what Jenny100 says !! laugh


Time : The Most Precious Commodity
Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1104865
03/21/17 08:43 PM
03/21/17 08:43 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 2,046
Ontario, Canada
colpet Offline
Addicted Boomer
colpet  Offline
Addicted Boomer

Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 2,046
Ontario, Canada
I am with Jenny100, too. So, barring action, the puzzles I don't like in Adventures are dialogue based ones and nonsensical inventory ones that leave you trying everything out on everyone and every item out of desperation. I can't do music ones since I am tone deaf, so I naturally don't like those either.

Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1104884
03/21/17 10:21 PM
03/21/17 10:21 PM
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 4,940
Lincoln, NE
GuybrushThreepwood Offline
Addicted Boomer
GuybrushThreepwood  Offline
Addicted Boomer

Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 4,940
Lincoln, NE
Sliders. At least in casual games they can usually be skipped.


Currently Playing:
Adventure Game: Broken Age
Darkside: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1104886
03/21/17 10:39 PM
03/21/17 10:39 PM
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,004
Sweden
Mikael Offline
Addicted Boomer
Mikael  Offline
Addicted Boomer

Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,004
Sweden
Sliders - I've never been able to solve one.

Timed puzzles, unless they are VERY forgiving.

Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1104898
03/22/17 03:07 AM
03/22/17 03:07 AM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 6,391
Long Beach, Australia
flotsam Offline
Staff Reviewer
flotsam  Offline
Staff Reviewer
BAAG Specialist

Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 6,391
Long Beach, Australia
The ones I can't solve redchicken
More seriously, I hate puzzles where you play against the puzzle, and as far as one can tell it is completely up to the puzzle as to whether you win or not. I am happy to beat the puzzle through a strategy (the bridge puzzle in Schizm springs to mind) but not play one like the Shove Ha'penny game in The Slaughter.
Not a huge fan of mazes, as they generally feel like filler, although they can be well done (the one under the Tower of London in whatever that game was!)
smile


Quantity has a quality all of its own
Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1104901
03/22/17 05:00 AM
03/22/17 05:00 AM
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 25,109
Marlborough USA
Kaki's Sister Offline
Sonic Boomer
Kaki's Sister  Offline
Sonic Boomer

Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 25,109
Marlborough USA
Timed and music puzzle. The piano puzzle in Myst was very difficult!


Gerry
Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: flotsam] #1104910
03/22/17 07:19 AM
03/22/17 07:19 AM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 2,046
Ontario, Canada
colpet Offline
Addicted Boomer
colpet  Offline
Addicted Boomer

Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 2,046
Ontario, Canada
Originally Posted By: flotsam
The ones I can't solve redchicken
More seriously, I hate puzzles where you play against the puzzle, and as far as one can tell it is completely up to the puzzle as to whether you win or not. I am happy to beat the puzzle through a strategy (the bridge puzzle in Schizm springs to mind) but not play one like the Shove Ha'penny game in The Slaughter.
Not a huge fan of mazes, as they generally feel like filler, although they can be well done (the one under the Tower of London in whatever that game was!)
smile

I forgot about those. I call those the A.I. Puzzles where you usually play a game against a computer. No walkthrough can help you because the moves are random. Unless there is a skip, you are doomed to play forever. I am horrible at strategy games. I lose more often than not at tic-tac-toe smirk

Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1104918
03/22/17 09:01 AM
03/22/17 09:01 AM
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 793
CaptainD Offline
Settled Boomer
CaptainD  Offline
Settled Boomer

Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 793
I hate puzzles where you have to move one thing and that in turn moves a few other things and you have to make them all line up, but every one you change alters several more... They really do my head in. As does, apparently, trying to explain the sort of puzzle I really don't like, which I'm sure I have done a terrible job of!

Also, mazes. Ugh.

Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1104920
03/22/17 09:05 AM
03/22/17 09:05 AM
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 80
Croatia
ViktorTheBoar Offline OP
Shy Boomer
ViktorTheBoar  Offline OP
Shy Boomer

Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 80
Croatia
I see that most of the people here would hate at least one thing in Viktor. It is true, you can't please everyone laugh

Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1104933
03/22/17 11:02 AM
03/22/17 11:02 AM
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 793
CaptainD Offline
Settled Boomer
CaptainD  Offline
Settled Boomer

Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 793
Originally Posted By: ViktorTheBoar
I see that most of the people here would hate at least one thing in Viktor. It is true, you can't please everyone laugh


You could probably say that about any game mate! Even the beloved classics.

Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1104934
03/22/17 12:30 PM
03/22/17 12:30 PM
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 83,268
In the Naughty Corner
BrownEyedTigre Offline
The Sassy Admin and PR Liaison
BrownEyedTigre  Offline
The Sassy Admin and PR Liaison
Sonic Boomer

Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 83,268
In the Naughty Corner
Originally Posted By: ViktorTheBoar
I see that most of the people here would hate at least one thing in Viktor. It is true, you can't please everyone laugh


rotfl Not at all surprising and in all honesty, unavoidable!


Don't feed the Trolls
Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1104936
03/22/17 12:58 PM
03/22/17 12:58 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644
southeast USA
Jenny100 Offline
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
Jenny100  Offline
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
Sonic Boomer

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644
southeast USA
Originally Posted By: ViktorTheBoar
I see that most of the people here would hate at least one thing in Viktor. It is true, you can't please everyone laugh

I enjoy several of the puzzles mentioned in this thread -- puzzles that others either dislike or can't do at all. In general I like music puzzles and sliders. However there was a music puzzle in Journey to the Moon that involved matching chords -- a lot of them -- rather than single notes and that was extremely difficult.

Puzzle skips or alternative puzzle solves are valid for people who are tone deaf or colorblind or who don't have a mind for sliders. If it gets to the point where you're skipping everything, you're playing the wrong game.

What you called "Reflex puzzles" in your original post
Originally Posted By: ViktorTheBoar
- Reflex puzzles - doing something while a character's head is turned the other way or while a character is ready to help you at a certain moment
doesn't necessarily require fast reflexes. For example, it could depend more on clicking the correct items in order rather than clicking fast.

Even mazes can be fun as long as they're not the usual sort of maze. For example the open maze with the pink electricity in Sanitarium and the maze in the China world in Atlantis 2 where you walk on the ceiling.

One thing I don't like is where you have to play a game against an AI. There are at least 3 of these in 11th Hour. Unless you are already an expert, each of these games would take several weeks of study to develop any real understanding of the strategy involved in winning -- assuming you could ever understand.
Pente is an example of a game I could never get my head around.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pente
Reversi is another one
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversi
I don't think games like that have any place inside larger adventure games, where they bring the rest of the game to a screeching halt unless there is a way to skip them. They are fine on their own, but not within a larger game. If I feel like studying Pente or Reversi, I want an individual game app, not something inside another game.

Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: Jenny100] #1104999
03/23/17 12:51 AM
03/23/17 12:51 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 34,312
United Kingdom
Mad Offline
Sonic Boomer
Mad  Offline
Sonic Boomer

Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 34,312
United Kingdom
"the maze in the China world in Atlantis 2 where you walk on the ceiling"

Agggghhhhh !!!!!!!!!!

Who could ever forget THAT ?? hardwall


Time : The Most Precious Commodity
Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: Jenny100] #1105100
03/24/17 12:14 AM
03/24/17 12:14 AM
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 789
Virginia Beach, VA
Uncle Reg Offline
Settled Boomer
Uncle Reg  Offline
Settled Boomer

Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 789
Virginia Beach, VA

Originally Posted By: Jenny100

I don't consider timed and reflex-dependent sequences to be adventure game puzzles at all, and they certainly have no place in one of the very, very few game genres that people with poor or nonexistent reflexes are able to play.

Peoples' reflexes are all over the map, and the same sequence can be trivial for some players while being impossible for others. Skips are a workaround but not a solution. Would you really want to play a game where you have to skip half of it? It would be better if the developers did not include anything that depends on reflexes in an adventure game.


I agree with Jenny 100%.

Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: ViktorTheBoar] #1105177
03/24/17 04:13 PM
03/24/17 04:13 PM
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 11,590
The Garden State
LadyKestrel Offline
Adept Boomer
LadyKestrel  Offline
Adept Boomer

Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 11,590
The Garden State
I like most puzzles, as long as they're designed well and not too tightly timed. I like mazes as long as they have some distinctive features and sliders as long as I know what image I have to complete. If a dialogue puzzle has several choices, I don't want to be penalized if I choose incorrectly but neither do I want to hear the same dialogue again and again unless I ask for it. I don't mind silliness with inventory items, but I do get annoyed when I have a perfectly good tool to complete a task (a claw hammer) but have to find a different one (a nail puller) instead.


Carpe chocolate.
Re: What's your least favorite type of puzzle in adventure games? [Re: LadyKestrel] #1105194
03/24/17 06:59 PM
03/24/17 06:59 PM
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 16,783
Upper Arlington, Ohio
Space Quest Fan Offline
Graduate Boomer
Space Quest Fan  Offline
Graduate Boomer

Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 16,783
Upper Arlington, Ohio
My least favorite is a timed mechanical puzzle.


It's nice to be important but it is much more important to be nice.
Page 1 of 3 1 2 3
Previous Thread
Index
Next Thread

Moderated by  BrownEyedTigre, Marian 

Who's Online Now
1 registered members (manxman), 235 guests, and 0 spiders.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Staff, Mod
Newest Members
PierreLombardo, Dux, WillPowerGoat, Ebalon, J7769mon
9388 Registered Users
Powered by UBB.threads™