I'm playing ND Crystal Skull right now and I had to use a walkthrough for the "make the guy sneeze" puzzle. The game gave zero feedback or hints about what you were supposed to do or how the objects interacted with each other. It would've been nice if you could see an animation of how each object behaved.
Usually when I get stuck and consult a wt, I bonk my head and think Oh yeah that makes sense. But this one had a billion different combinations that could have worked so there was no head bonking when I got the solution, just a somewhat frustrated sigh.

Just a thought but when doing a puzzal in an adventure game and you know what to do but are just that little bit to slow .Is this really classed as a puzzal .As some one said above if you want a shoot out or a game where you have to be fast you would play a action game .Adventure to me .To a point is thinking about a puzzal and trying to solve it but not to the point where you are going bauld .Hence the hints and the walk throughs but on a timed puzzal if you ar nt fast enough .Well you are stu--ed unless you have some one do that bit for you .

Adventure games are for your amusement, not to test your intelligence with solving puzzles. I play games for the fun of it. If I get stuck, I check a walkthrough. If I really, really get stuck and have tried solving a puzzle for days, I will ask for a save ... mostly the timed stuff ...

I don't feel guilty about doing that, at all!!!

Zookeeper,

I agree with you on that puzzle in Crystal Skull. You obviously knew it was some sort of puzzle when you got all of the squares as you picked up an object. But you are right...there was no feedback in the game as to why you would do this...how you would use the sneezing powder, etc. "This will come in handy" when the powder was picked up was wayyyyyy too subtle!

Once you realized that the objects could work together in a chain reaction...it was great! A really neat puzzle! But unless the object was in the correct spot...you had no idea what it did. I accidentally got the record player to play...but hadn't a clue why. And I inflated the balloon...but my first instinct was to put the sneezing powder above it so it would spill when the balloon inflated. Was there a hint or a clue that I missed????

JK,

I worked on that puzzle for more than an hour and I never got any of the items to do anything. So if you put one in the right place it would do it's thing? Is that how you were supposed to figure out how the items would interact with each other? Even so, there was an infinite number of ways to create a chain reaction. I also tried to put the sneezing powder above the balloon to spill it.

Not necessarily, Zookeeper. For example, I put the fan where it would logically go...due to the plug...but unless something turned it on...it didn't move. The only "hints" I saw was the size of the space...either a square or rectangle.

In hindsight...if you were lucky enough to start the phonograph, then you could think what might music do...cause someone to dance, etc...but still...there was no clue suggesting you start a chain reaction.

When I got the phonograph started, I sort of hoped Lamont would come by to turn it off! How lame an idea was that???

Hands down, the hardest puzzle in all my adventure game playing years is the one from the old Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. You know, where you:

And if you don't do it fast enough, it's game over. Yikes!

btw, I still have a saved game of Nibiru right at the puzzle you're talking about. (the spinning circles, right?) From last year. I gave up. :/

To be completely honest and likely to face the gameboomers firing squad, I don't start a game without downloading the walkthrough first.

I'm VERY impatient and have actually stopped playing a game because hard puzzles bore me rather than challenge me.

But I still buy every game that comes out and have a library of about 60 of them so will someday try the ones I quit again.

There's no firing squad here. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion about how they experience their adventure.

I think the arcade-type puzzles in Nancy Drew games are some of the worst ever. They're timed and require expert-level hand/eye coordination. The Barnacle Blaster in The Haunted Carousel and the sewing maching puzzle in Secret of the Old Clock are two that top my list of hated puzzles.

On the other hand, Nancy Drew games often have very clever and fun puzzles, as well, or else we wouldn't be playing them.