Defeating the Player!

edited July 2009 in General Chat
There are several games which 'defeated' me and had me running for hints or walkthroughs at various points. I admit it. I'm talking about the kind of defeat that makes you ask "HOW THAT F**K WAS I SUPPOSED TO GET THAT??"

Ultimately I find them amusing, though at the moment I finally do it I'm seeing red to the point where I'm seriously considering hunting down the guy who came up for the puzzle and killing him.

I think the worst of such puzzles, for me, was in Broken Sword 2 when you had to cover a rock in vines for reasons I no longer remember. I had no idea I was supposed to do that. There were no hints dropped at all that it might be the thing to do when inspecting the vines or the rock. When I'd done it I couldn't help but think there was a better way to accomplish whatever it was I was doing, that I'd certainly have done it differently. I took a break from the game after this to avoid snapping the disk.

A friend of mine has 2 situations he comments on with adventure games; the octopus in the toilet from Discworld (I) and the "monkey wrench" in LCR.

What are your most defeating experiences in any adventure game, and did you over react at all?

Comments

  • edited June 2009
    The only thing I can think of was when I tried to play City of the Lost Children.
    All I remember is walking around aimlessly picking up random items. I never actually accomplished anything. Perhaps it was because I never watched the movie it was based on, or I dunno.
  • edited June 2009
    Marduk wrote: »
    the "monkey wrench" in LCR.

    Aaaammen.

    A friend of mine, who wanted to complete the whole game without resorting to any hints or walkthroughs. He was stuck on that puzzle for 3 months. He eventually used everything in his inventory on everything in the game world and got it - but seriously, how is that fun?
  • edited June 2009
    It's been a while since I played Discworld 1, so I don't remember the octopus in the toilet, but I do remember the puzzle to get the monk's robe. It's been a while, but don't you have to go back in time and put a frog in the sleeping Rincewind's mouth, causing a very localised rainstorm around the monk, causing him to hang his robe out to dry in the present? It'd be okay if there was any connection at all between past Rincewind and the monk, or if the weather thing had been hinted at. Maybe the monk could say that he nearly got rained on earlier, and another character could talk at length about the weather altering properties of butterflies.

    Or maybe that did happen and I missed it. Like I said, it was a while ago.

    Quantam Butterflies who can cause localised rainstorms by flapping their wings do exist in Discworld, but I don't think they were mentioned in the game until after that puzzle, and they don't work the way they do in the books anyway.
  • edited June 2009
    I guess it happens to the best of us. I've been stuck in adventure games many times, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I've resorted to using hint guides/walkthroughs every once in a while. Being stuck on a puzzle for too long can suck all the fun out of a game fast.
  • edited June 2009
    I'm not saying you should be ashamed of it but some people would be bothered.

    I'm just looking for people's experiences and maybe some amusing stories.
  • edited July 2009
    That damn Monkey Wrench! I was stuck on that for about 3 months too, but I never did try the whole "Every object on every other object thing" I remember doing a process of elimination bit on that pump, but I discounted things that made absolutely no sense, such as the spit encrusted paper and the monkey. When I finally read it in a walkthrough I was just dumbstruck. Still rushed upstairs to finish the game though.
  • edited July 2009
    Marduk wrote: »
    There are several games which 'defeated' me and had me running for hints or walkthroughs at various points. I admit it. I'm talking about the kind of defeat that makes you ask "HOW THAT F**K WAS I SUPPOSED TO GET THAT??"

    Ultimately I find them amusing, though at the moment I finally do it I'm seeing red to the point where I'm seriously considering hunting down the guy who came up for the puzzle and killing him.

    I think the worst of such puzzles, for me, was in Broken Sword 2 when you had to cover a rock in vines for reasons I no longer remember. I had no idea I was supposed to do that. There were no hints dropped at all that it might be the thing to do when inspecting the vines or the rock. When I'd done it I couldn't help but think there was a better way to accomplish whatever it was I was doing, that I'd certainly have done it differently. I took a break from the game after this to avoid snapping the disk.

    There are plenty of these moments throughout gaming, but honestly, I don't think the vine puzzle was one of them. If you traveled to all other points on the island, you know you were supposed to locate the cave from the vantage point by looking at the needle, which was hinted at earlier in the game. You have the reflector in your inventory, and it's not too much of a stretch to realize the reflector needs to go on the needle-shaped rock. When I realized I couldn't throw the thing to the top of the needle, I tried throwing the vine up there. Pretty straightforward.
  • edited July 2009
    Pick a Myst game. Pick a puzzle from the Myst game you picked. Picture a raging man sitting at a computer. There's my story of adventure game defeat. Never has a game made me feel so stupid.
  • ShauntronShauntron Telltale Alumni
    edited July 2009
    As much as I loved space quest as a kid, I definitely did feel like the two dudes from Andromeda had it in for me.
  • edited July 2009
    I've sorta referenced this on another thread somewhere but feel that it's appropriate here too. I struggled to complete the early Police Quest games (specifically 1 & 2) without external help mainly due to the way that it rigidly enforced police procedures, like having to inspect your car (walk around it) before getting in and driving somewhere and making sure your gun was locked away safely before entering somewhere like the jail (and remembering to retrieve it as you were leaving).
  • edited July 2009
    For some odd reason I got the Monkey Wrench puzzle almost straight away.
    I think I was actually only messing around trying to get Guybrush to say some sort of silly pun rather than actually trying to solve the puzzle though.
    I was like, "oh - that made no sense".
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