Too dumb for adventure games?

I have not played many adventure games and for those few I needed a lot of help like hints & walkthroughs. Now I started "Secret at Loch Ness" and have again the suspicion that I'm missing a lot. I even have trouble finding my way arround in the manor. Has this something to do with practice or am I just too daft? How do you all get through a game without cheating? Please tell me that there is still hope!

I've been playing adventure games since the "beginning of adventure gaming" and I STILL use a walkthrough for every game.....though only as a last resort. I don't know if i've ever played any game without one at some point.

I will tell you though that somewhere down the line you will get smarter and more crafty and be able to figure more things out on your own.....i guess that just comes with years of practice and playing. And of course......getting help here at Gameboomers is a MUST!!! I would be hopelessly lost without my Gameboomer buddies.

And no.....you're not dumb or daft.......a lot of adventure gaming involves convoluted thinking and doing crazy things that a normal person would never think to do!! But of course that's half the fun!!!!!!

I second everything Liz has said. I too need a wt for every adv. game. IMHO a lot of puzzles are unsolvable without one. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Confused]" src="confused.gif" />

Thanks guys, you made my day! Guess I'll just persevere and keep looking in the most unlikely places. I get a real buzz everytime I can pick something up, haha.

Ingrid,
Always take time to explore as much as you can because anything can be a clue. Remember to take lots of notes and save often. If you're exploring a place with many areas, draw yourself a rough sketch of the place to help you orient yourself or your character. Turn around a lot to see where you've been, and look from side to side and up and down, if the game allows it. If you've done all you could in an area but still think you're missing something, check a walkthrough or hints page. Ditto with tough puzzles. Usually just the smallest hint will get you going again, but sometimes you need a fuller explanation, expecially when it's a quirky one. The game designer's logic may not be yours, and sometimes just figuring out what you are expected do is half the battle. Remember, adventure games are supposed to be fun. Anything you do to make them more enjoyable for yourself is what counts.

Lady K.

Ingrid, As Lady K can definitely tell you, EVERYONE needs help. She just helped me with my latest game. Thanks Lady K! You're the best. I can get really frustrated and feel very stupid when I play. There is such a buzz when things do go right and I can move on to the next puzzle. It all comes down to enjoying yourself, so remember you are definitely not alone.

Lorlor

I almost always have to check a walkthru at sometime during a game, but I DO remember when I first started playing adventures and there were no walkthrus, ( that I could find anyway ) it could take me months to finish a game, the only games that I can say that I didnt have SOME kind of help from a walkthru were GK 1, and Shivers, I WAS able to get a few hints from some other gamers that had already played them at a prodigy board I used to belong to,but that was about it, I LOVE the fact that now you can just get online and easily get help or a walkthru, because as Johnboy said some things are just unsolvable without some kind of help. And for the gaming snobs who say they NEVER use a walkthru, well...
personally, I dont believe it.

Ingrid just click on Walkthroughs at top of this page then C for Cameron Files Secret at Loch Ness and print out your walkthrough

Thanks for all your advice! I made a rough map of the manor house, this safes me a lot of time finding my way from one room to another. I always read a WT before I start the game just to have an idea when it gets hairy - don't like nasty surprises jumping out of cupboards! This time though I will only refer to the WT when I'm absolutely stuck.
You people are terrific, always willing to give a novice like me a helping hand!

But nasty things jumping out of cupboards are what makes these games fun!

Lady K.

I love the adventure games--have trouble with the RPGs tho-can't seem to hit those nasty creatures! I always have to use a WT but I still enjoy the games.

I played quite a few games without a w/t, only because there wasen't one that I could find...matter of fact, I didn't know there was such a thing when I played Shivers 1 and the first KQ games..{guess that "dates" me LOL} The only way I was able to get through "Shivers 1" was the great big manual that came with it that gave some hints! Funny thing is....If you play without a w/t you remember a lot more of the game!! Anyone remember the "potions" you had to mix to make "spells" in KQ3??? You not only had to mix the "potions" you had to type in the mixtures, if you misspelled one thing or left out a comma..it was no good! I don't remember how long it took me to play that game, but I didn't have to worry about a new game coming out for a long time!! ROFL Glynn

Maybe I'm getting too old for this kind of excitement LOL. I remember that nerve wrecking scene in Tex Murphy Overseer where I had to break into some cabin and hide in the wardrobe and then behind a shower curtain. When I finally made it out of there alive (after 20 attempts!!) I was a nervous wreck. Maybe not the best game to start with, now I'm playing the more sedate ones to practice before I tackle another "blood & gutser".

Ingrid, I played Loch Ness twice, and I had trouble finding my own room!! Those hallways were the pits! :-) Glynn

Teehee....Just wait til you have to take the "swim" in Loch Ness...I am playing Conspiracies now, and would you believe...I am still in the habit of closing every drawer, door and cabinet that I open "Thanks Tex"!! LOL

I'm more WALKTHROUGH-ER than ADVENTUERGAME-R.

Thanks for warning me, Glynn. I'm really looking forward to that (not)! Now talk about daft: I started that game yesterday and did everything as prescribed. When I took up today where I left yesterday I still couldn't get out of the manor. It took me ages to discover that I hadn't saved my game yesterday!There you have it, maybe I should be doing crossword puzzles instead.

I do "jigsaw" puzzles when I really get stuck in a game, crossword puzzles are too taxing on my tiny brain! LOL Glynn

So do I - the ones with 80 pieces

YES!! I could live with that! :-)

Oh! I just had an idea for Rusty's next nosey question of the week. What was the most personally embarrassing stupid thing you've ever done in a game? How many times have you had to re-do a level because you forgot to save? AND it was a simple answer! How about letting some simple little monster kill you while you're not paying enough attention? I'm not even sure I would answer these! <img border="0" alt="" title="" src="graemlins/woozy.gif" />

Lorlor

Well, there's one for starters. It wasn't playing the game but getting it. There was this game on Ebay that I badly wanted so I decided to snipe it. I kept watching it like a hawk, heart racing, palms sweating.... Then I pounced - my personal best with 3 sec to spare - and I was the only bidder!!

Ingrid, thats priceless!!! Good practise for bidding on other games though!!

I often have Duh moments when gaming, at least one per game!!! One thing which has made me turn more to walkthroughs is the fact that in some games you can have done Everything right, but have to wait for a specific time slot before you can move on (a couple of instances of this in Black Mirror) so you start to wonder if you have missed something important.

The more games I play, the better I become but there are some puzzles which floor me.... Schizm springs to mind immediately!!

Oh have you tried any of the Nancy Drew games?? Theres an easy mode or hard mode (for puzzle difficulty)

Hugs

Tig

In graduate school I took a course called Cognition and Information Retrieval that dealt with "cognitive processing and concept formation to the case of humans interacting with information storage and retrieval systems." This basically means the way we think will determine a search term that we come up with that may or may not match up with the search term the creator of the database or storage system implemented. In this course we also discussed how poorly designed objects (or puzzles) can make us feel stupid when we can't figure them out. An example is the stove top - on most of them the four buttons for each burner don't make logical sense as to which one they turn on. Even after using my stove for two years I still have to look at the diagram. And I think this would apply to game puzzles as well - you aren't stupid - the puzzle is either poorly designed or you aren't thinking like the designer of it.

Anyway whenever I get stumped with a puzzle or object that makes me feel stupid I remember this course and what I got of it - "You're not stupid, it's designed poorly." :-)

Thanks KWBRIDGE, I thought I was the only one in the world who still had to at the diagram on my stove after two years!! AND before that, the one I had for 20 yrs!! I can't think of a way they could be "labled" that would make sense to me..unless they could put a "toggle" in the center of each burner! LOL Glynn

TWO days ago, I put a pot of water on the stove. I walked back to the computer & played for 10 minutes waiting for the water to boil. Went back into the kitchen to discover the back burner on & the pot was on the front.

Love, Jen

my stove has pretty shapes indicating which ring is which... and they are set in a square so you know exactly which one is which!!

Now the only thing I have a prob with is that I press on the shape to get a red active light on the particular burner then have to use either + or - keys to set the temperature... I have to do this quick or the stove deselects the ring, at the same time remembering that if I am using a pan with fat in, I MUST use the - to set it or it goes into autoheat mode and burns the pan!!!

Tig

When you think how hard it is just for all different kinds of people to communicate with each other and understand what everybody is trying to say---

Think how hard it is to construct a puzzle that gives out clues in just the right way so that everybody can figure out how to solve it.

Some puzzles that are easy for one person are very difficult for another because people think differently, notice different things that may or may not be clues, and have different experiences that help them with the puzzle logic (or lack of logic!)

When you think about it, it's a kind of miracle to make it through a game without a walkthrough. It's even a kind of miracle to understand the walkthrough.

Good Grief Tig! That sounds like a "puzzle" I wouldn't want to try! :-) Glynn

Hi Glynn,

my hubby thought it would be a wonderful present for me.. I do like it but cringe every time he goes anywhere near it Just waiting for the matching double oven to be installed then I'm away.... (I don't do electrics so can't do it myself!)

Oh and BTW, if you type your :-) without the - you get one of these

Hugs

Tig

Aha! Will do! Thanks Tig....

Lorlor,
A while back we had a "Duh Moments" thread here, but I think it has been shuffled to the archives. Many of us had the same ones in common.

Lady K.

I have already had a major duh moment in the new Jack the Ripper game. Details will have to wait

Uhmm I often run past things and forget to check areas if I am advancing in the game rapidly. Not saving before opening a creepy door, going into a dark room or rounding a spooky corner.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with needing to use a walk-through for a game, IMHO. I use them all of the time!
However, there will always be the "purist" types who think it is a sin to use walk-through to play a game. I call these types of people "game snobs".
Long live walk-throughs!!!!!!!!
Rusty

Yes, I have just installed a Nancy Drew game and thought "ha, thats for kids, I wont need a walkthrough for this". Guess what I'm just printing this minute?

haha.....that's good, Ingrid. I think if we're honest, most of us would have to admit getting stuck a lot in games........I still don't know how the walkthrough writers do it! they're geniuses!!

And "SMART" too!! also, wonderful and helpful!! and we couldn't do without them!! Glynn

Been there Ingrid (actually still there come to think of it) I remember the first Nancy Drew game I played - did the same thing - figured it was for "kids" so since I'm such an "experienced gamer" I'd play Senior Detective - I mean how hard could it be??? Pffffffffttttttt I found out - it was soooo embarrassing

I just started "Treasure in the Royal Tower" and all I've been doing so far is go around in circles - that is I can't find the staircase even though I can see it on the other side :-). Finding the elevator will be a major victory. Think I'll take a break with another 64piece jigsaw puzzle!

Hey Ingrid...where are you finding jigsaw puzzles that small??? Glynn
Liz..been meaning to ask..where Is Cave Creek, Az? My daughter is in Queen Creek, outside of Phoenix...and where the heck is a "creek" around there?? I never saw anything other than "sand" when I went to visit...LOL Glynn

HI

I only make it through two games without a cheat, Myst which is still my favorite and GABRIEL KNIGHT II. I TRY DESPERATELY TO PLAY A GAME WITHOUT CHEATS. MY PROBLEM IS THAT ONCE I GO TO THEM I RETURN MORE QUICKLY IN STEAD OF USING MY BRAIN. GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR GAME PLAYING.

Hi Strawberry....Welcome to Gameboomers! You are going to love it here Glynn

Welcome to GameBoomers Strawberry. I'm from Battle Creek.

The only game I have played without a WT was Riven, only because I didn't know WT's existed nor sites like GB. I've found the more you play adventure games the better you get at it. Everyone gets stuck though and needs a nudge using a WT or going to the Hints Forum. I couldn't imagine wrting a WT, that takes a special kind of person.

~Dee

Glynn........Cave Creek is on the far north side of Phoenix (near Carefree, AZ if you've ever heard of that - a little resort town).........Queen Creek is on the far southeast side - opposite ends of the valley. (When i first moved out here - i lived in Apache Junction which is not too far from Queen Creek) And you're right......there isn't much water in the old creeks....they're kind of a joke!!

Yes I have heard of Apache Junction..[small world] It is close to my daughter..she said the area is really building up around her! I guess I will have to go see her again, since there was "nothing" there when I was there years ago! Glynn

Yep......the whole Phoenix area is expanding by the minute.....i've only been out here about 5 years.....but people who've been out here 15-20 years have seen TONS of development going on......i'm sure a lot of the area is unrecognizable from what it was just a few years ago. It's sad in a way......all the development is just eating away at the gorgeous desert.

Hi Ingrid

I was just like you when I started playing adventure games. I would look at the walkthrough and thing, "duh, I should have known that". It does get better the more games you play. I played Runaway without a a WT. I came to the hints section here to get a nudge. I felt great because finally all the tips from the experienced gamers were things I was beginning to do. Now that means to get better you have to catch the "BAAGS" then you will be playing like a pro from so much practice.

When I have to give my brain cells a rest from adventure games I play these litte free online games. The other day I came across this little gem:
Think of a letter between A & W. Repeat it out loud as you scroll down...
Think of a animal that begins with this letter. Repeat it out loud as you scroll down...
Think of a man's/woman's name that begins with the last letter in that animal. Say it out loud as you scroll down....
Now count out the letters in that name on the fingers of the hand you are not using to scroll down....
Take the hand you counted with, smack yourself in the head, get a life and quit playing stupid games!!!

I'm glad I'm not the only one forced to use a walkthrough at least once in most games! I was beginning to feel stupid also. The math puzzles always get me.

I play computer jigsaw puzzles in between when I get stuck, though not the little ones. I usually do between 500 & 1000 pcs. I found this really cool little 16 bit puzzle maker as a free download and it plays just fine on my xp and allows me to turn any image into a puzzle. I'll look for the link if anyone wants it.

Melanie

Me too. Gotta have that walk through (and help from GB buddies) so I don't get tempted to throw my laptop off the balcony. But of course, I try really hard not to use it and sometimes work on one puzzle for several days before I give in. Its kinda like a right brain left brain thing for me. I don't get lost in a new town because I'm a very visual, right brainer. I do know that it gets easier with lots of practice, but some games just have crazy things that I couldn't do without help, from a logical left brainer or a walk through.

Aha! I've heard about right/left brain before and that there are exercises to train both sides. But beware, you know what happens when you exercise certain parts of your body - they shrink!

So that's what happened to my bo... ahem, never mind

I'm not one for using walkthroughs. Sometimes in solving a "puzzle" I find it useful to try to "psych out" the puzzle designer. When all else fails, try that.

The fact that different people see things from a slightly different point of view makes it useful to play in parallel with another player. What one misses, the other often sees. That enables them both to avoid walkthroughs. Try playing with someone else. It's more fun that way, anyway!

Oh, and it is not a miracle to get through a game without a walkthrough, but it takes a lot of time and patience, and, sometimes, just plain dogged determination. Let's face it, it generally takes me a long time to finish a game. I probably only average a game a month, if that. And I wind up with a large 3-ring notebook full of notes on the game. Most players don't have that patience, and I don't blame them. They are in it for the fun! I am, too, but I suffer from a weird sort of curiosity and the sin of pride and, perhaps, a bit of masochism.

Advpuzluv,
I have enjoyed playing a few games with a friend, and it does help to have another point of view. Of course, for those who play alone, Game Boomers serves the same purpose. There are lots of helpful friends here.

One thing about using a walkthrough is that a player often gets a case of tunnel vision and misses seeing other parts of the game. The person writing the walkthrough has experienced the pitfalls and wrong turns and is giving the best path to avoid mishaps. However, it can often lead a player to solving a puzzle before the need for solving it is apparent. For this reason, I like to take my time and explore thoroughly first in order to get the "feel" of a place. I have found by doing this and saving often, of course, that I can get through most (and often all) of a game without "peeking." That being said, I've found that I will use a walkthrough more often when mistakes lead to the premature end of the game, either by death or capture. In Traitors Gate I was getting captured every time I turned around, so I relied heavily on a walkthrough to get through that one.

Syd,
How did you manage to exercize them? On second thought, don't tell me!

Lady K.

With this Nancy Drew game I'm determined to get through without cheats and WT or at least keep them to a minimum. I've noticed that with a WT I get very lazy and impatient, i.e. why listen carefully to dialogues and look at everything closely when I have all the answers right in front of me. This has lead to game endings where I had no idea what the story was about and an overall feeling of dissatifaction and let-down. So I'm really missing the point of the game and wasted time and money.
I think its a great idea to play with a partner and compare progress in the game.