From: msr@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Michael Rosenberg)
Subject: Re: Best and worst problems (was: Re: Info-flop and new thread (mild spoilers))
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 13:31:53 GMT

In article <1992Oct8.221209.16588@pollux.lu.se> magnus@thep.lu.se (Magnus Olsson) writes:
>In article <1992Oct7.111433.3007@wkuvx1.bitnet> mollems@wkuvx1.bitnet writes:
>>What is your all-time single favorite puzzle or problem in an IF game? 
>>(by "problem" I define a single quandary or tightly defined section of
>>a game - for example, the "12 cubes" puzzle in _Spellbreaker_ or the
>>coal mine area in Zork I both qualify, but the whole endgame of
>>_Trinity_ is too broad for what I'm talking about -- though I loved
>>it).
>
>>Also, what is your opinion on the "dumbest" problem or section in an
>>IF game?  "Dumb" can mean either so blatanly obvious that it wasn't
>>even a puzzle, or just so aberrantly stupid that you wonder what the
>>designer was smoking.
> 
>[ I'll try to avoid giving explicit spoilers in the following ]
>
>If this is too much to qualify as a single problem, tthen my nominee
>is the problem with the babel fish in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the
>Galaxy - I've never seen a problem where I've been fooled so many
>times into believing that I've finally got it, only to be faced with
>another "layuer of the onion".

Good choice.  

>As for "dumbest" == simplest problem: I think most games contain small
>"problemettes", that is things that have been made just a trifle less
>than obvious. For example, if you have a door, you can leave it open -
>then there's no problem. You can have it locked, and force the player
>to use the key he/she found in the adjoining room - still not a
>problem. But you can hide the key somewhere, and then it's beginning
>to achive problem status. If the key is hard to get (say guarded by a
>dragon) then you have a real problem. But if all you have to do is to
>open a drawer in the desk next to the door, then you may have a
>"problemette". 
>
>Now, my point is that some of these "problemettes" are so simple that
>you never even notice them. But if they're just a bit less obvious,
>you notice them, but get annoyed that it's so obvious. I think there
>are dumb problems of this kind in most adventures.
>
>Then there are really stupid problems. The worst I've ever seen is the
>"baseball problem" in Zork: I've had it explained to me, I've read
>Infocom's InvisiClues, and I still don't get it - it's still
>incomprehensible. (Maybe that's because I don't know anything about
>baseball, not being American).

That's weird, because I can't remember any problem in Zork relating to a
baseball. It's been a long time since I played it, but I think I'd remember
something along those lines.

Actually, as much as I love the game and feel it's one of the best adventure
games ever written, Zork really had a lot of stupid puzzles in it.  Not easy,
mind you, just stupid.  Unlike many of Infocom's later games, a lot of this
games was unrelated and sort of random (this is not necessarily a bad thing
mind you :)  The puzzle that leaps to mind is how to get past the cyclops. 
I don't mind solutions that aren't obvious, but that one seemed a bit far
fetched to come up with, without any other clues.

There are a lot of other games with dumb/simple problems, but what may seem
simple to one person may drive others insane.  It all depends on how you
think.  The answer to the riddle in Leather Goddesses seemed obvious to me,
but I know other people who have racked their brains for hours trying to
answer it.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
*  Mike Rosenberg                   |   msr@casbah.acns.nwu.edu              *
*                                   |   jth@isp.nwu.edu                      *
*  "Weasel is not a nickname --     |   weasel@nwu.edu                       * 
*   it's a state of mind."          |   weasel@speedy.acns.nwu.edu           *
*                                   |                                        *
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
"Ordinariy he was insane, but he had lucid moments when he was merely stupid"
	Heinrich Heine