Puzzles in Video Games

[treezy z]

Does anyone here like puzzles in video games?

Every time I encounter a puzzle in a video game it's the worst part of the game. I've never said "this game is great, but they should have put in a part where I wondered aimlessly in circles for an hour trying to solve a puzzle."

Thankfully nowadays I can just find the solution online.

Is this just to pad the play-time? Why the fuck do they put these in games?

 

[JoeTheStoner]

i do the jumping puzzles in guild wars 2 was like my fav thing to do and the trine series is a beautiful puzzle platformer. my sister goes ham on tetris.

 

[malakaix]

Haha, we are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum here.

I love games with puzzles in them, the more challenging the more i enjoy it.. a lot of older games were built on the premise of making the environment puzzle-like; forcing you to manipulate your environment or look for clues in order to progress to the next section.. I.D Software and Valve were renowned for building the foundation of their games from this perspective.

It really depends on your approach to games.. some people play games to relax and zone out, for me i want to be challenged and forced to think critically.. there's some games that are purely solving puzzle's like Portal and Q.U.B.E. and then there's others that implement them into the story and levels.. if the game is too simple, i get bored.

 

[Jibult]

I fucking hate most puzzles.

I don't mind ones that can be figured out in 15-20min, but there's a lot of games these days that give you absolutely no idea there's even a puzzle you need to solve before advancing-- you just kind of hit a dead end, look everywhere for a door or something that you missed and backtrack for a couple hours before you get on gamefaqs and figure out just what in the fuck is going on here.


The few Elder Scrolls puzzles I can vaguely remember? I was cool with stuff like that once I figured them out, but how in the fuck was I supposed to find out I had to pull up a separate menu, close-up examine all sides of a certain item for three emblems and then use those emblems on the correct "dungeon" without gamefaqs or a guide?

Shit like that irritates me. Puzzles that are direct about being puzzles are cool, I guess, as long as they're not near-impossible.

 

[zzz101]

^yea
some of them i like. E.G;

(i) Metal gear Solid on PS1 i like, though~
(ii) Dark Souls puzzles are boring

 

[JoeTheStoner]

thinkin about this topic. this is an example of the sorta puzzle i like in games...



had to activate all the tiles without stepping on one twice, took a few tries, not rage inducing but just require a lil' thinkin.

 

[malakaix]

thinkin about this topic. this is an example of the sorta puzzle i like in games...

I love these kind of puzzles, especially in RPG games.. it add's a whole new element to the game, the gauntlet bridge puzzle in the orginial Dragon Age was quite difficult initially, took me some time to get through it.. but i enjoyed it.

With that said. This here is probably the hardest puzzle i've ever encountered in a game.. this puzzle took me about 2 hours to figure out, the guy makes it look easy but as you can see at 1:50min even he makes a mistake.. and with this kind of puzzle, if you make a mistake it can ruin the whole alignment and you have to start over again.

 

[JoeTheStoner]

o i just watched that thinking it was portal the entire time, i haven't played the series heh.

yea you know, that is cool like i can see myself playing that, just kickin back trying to get the alignment right. games like that you know what you're getting into + when the design is good, feels good to accomplish with good ol' brain power.

i do get what 'jibult' is saying ...

but there's a lot of games these days that give you absolutely no idea there's even a puzzle you need to solve before advancing-- you just kind of hit a dead end, look everywhere for a door or something that you missed and backtrack for a couple hours before you get on gamefaqs and figure out just what in the fuck is going on here.

i can't think of any examples off top, but games that aren't necessarily puzzle focused but put one in the game that requires progression, i can see be frustrating. like you bought a game that sounded cool for the story or whatever and then ya just wanna progress but get stuck for over 30-45 min trying to "solve" something.

thought a bit about hacking in deus ex human revolution / mass effect 2 / and even watch dogs hacking + it had jumping puzzles to unlock certain towers. in all those cases the design of said puzzles was done well for a non-puzzle game. when it comes to taking 1-2 hours to solve it, definitely better be labeled as a puzzle game =)

 

[Jibult]

i do get what 'jibult' is saying ...


i can't think of any examples off top, but games that aren't necessarily puzzle focused but put one in the game that requires progression, i can see be frustrating. like you bought a game that sounded cool for the story or whatever and then ya just wanna progress but get stuck for over 30-45 min trying to "solve" something.

thought a bit about hacking in deus ex human revolution / mass effect 2 / and even watch dogs hacking + it had jumping puzzles to unlock certain towers. in all those cases the design of said puzzles was done well for a non-puzzle game. when it comes to taking 1-2 hours to solve it, definitely better be labeled as a puzzle game =)

There's probably slight clues that I tend to miss due to inebriation. That's probably the main reason that I hate games that require too much higher-thinking. Just let me turn off my brain, kill shit and level up in the middle of a cool story that makes me feel involved. That's all I want out of my video games, to be honest...

It's cool when something breaks up the monotony of grinding but, really, that's what I grew up doing with my favorite video games and I like getting lost in them.



[EDIT: Thought you guys might enjoy a bit of related reading:

http://www.cracked.com/article_21764_5-video-game-puzzles-clearly-designed-by-hateful-people.html

http://www.cracked.com/article_21015_the-5-most-absurdly-difficult-video-game-puzzles-pt.-2.html]

 

[malakaix]

It's cool when something breaks up the monotony of grinding but, really, that's what I grew up doing with my favorite video games and I like getting lost in them.

Yeah i agree, the only time a puzzle usually frustrates me is if im heavily engaged in the storyline and that comes to a crashing halt because i now need to set aside time to navigate through a particular puzzle, the flow becomes interrupted and i get pulled out of the zone and put into a separate experience.

The puzzles need to be fluid to the story otherwise the above happens.. i feel like ID. Software and Valve did well with their FPS games, they incorporated small but fun puzzles that were easily integrated into the world and gave you a sense of achievement without causing you to stagnate too much. The puzzles that relied on the game engines physics mechanics were probably the best examples.

http://www.cracked.com/article_21764_5-video-game-puzzles-clearly-designed-by-hateful-people.html

http://www.cracked.com/article_21015_the-5-most-absurdly-difficult-video-game-puzzles-pt.-2.html]

Haha, those links. I actually never played any of those from memory.. maybe i did but damm there old. It mentions Zork 2 and i remember playing Zork Nemesis and that game was just rediculous when it came to puzzles, it was the epitome of 'what the fuck do you do?' wandering around aimlessly in librarys and castle rooms with nothing but some very distinct symbols written on objects that you could inspect which were clearly part of the puzzle process but offered zero information.. you could spend hours wandering around and getting no where.. insanely difficult.

 

[Opalescence]

I enjoyed the nice simple puzzles and puzzle games in Assassings Creed Black Flag. There was these computer virus ones you had to hack pass and it rewarded you with some cool back ground story info from between AC3 and AC4 Black Flag. oh but the stupid puzzles in AC3 in the undgerground tunnels made me sooo fricken angry and really made me dislike that game with added dislike of Conner...

I like innocent puzzles that don't really matter to the main storyline. The feeling of having to do something to get on to the next part just makes me not want to do it and quit.