I started this old series in April. I'm enjoying the games but this 4th one (The Skyward Castle) is wearing me out. I'm finding myself not knowing what to do or where to go and tonight I actually had to use an Excel spreadsheet to work out a puzzle. I've also used the hint button quite a bit which is something I don't do too often. I'll be glad to finish this game and am hoping the next three aren't as hard.
Sometimes, I don't think the game designers realize how difficult a puzzle is after they have created it. As for me, I love the games with real head-scratchers, and, like you, have frequently resorted to graph paper or a calculator or some other means to solve them. I happily will put in an hour or
more trying to figure out and then solve a puzzle, but if it is simply random movements that you have to shuffle your way through over and over, it starts being a chore rather than a challenge. My husband knows I am really happy with a BF game when he sees me pull out paper, colored pencils, scissors, tape or a calculator to solve a puzzle.
I've only played seven of the Awakening games, and wasn't maintaining a Comments list on the early ones, like
Golden Age. I have no notes on
Skyward Castle, either. The game I thought had the best puzzles was
Sunhook Spire, and that was an excellent, challenging and long game overall. Second and third are
Golden Age and
Redleaf Forest. I bailed on the demo for
Goblin Kingdom because I found it too cartoony and cutesy, so have no notes on it at all.