I checked the solution and now I'm depressed!

[Harvester]

I am currently playing The Longest Journey. Everything was going well till the seventh damn chapter. There's this stupid puzzle with four damn crystals. I spend almost a week trying to find the way to arrange them and solve the damn puzzle, but no luck. Today I finally got pissed off and I checked the solution. Well, problem solved, but another problem appeared - the guilt. Yeah. Now I feel I'm not gonna enjoy the rest of the game and that I'll simply try to finish it as soon as possible and move to another one. Crap! And that game rules!
Anyway, to make me feel better, I'd like you to tell me about great games that you ruined by not being able to solve yourself. My other examples include Phantasmagoria 2 and Larry 7 (ok, Larry 7 wasn't exactly a GREAT game, but it was interesting enough).

[scotch]

There's only a couple of games I havent looked at the solution for..

I don't enjoy being stuck for days just trying everything 3 times, it usually happens at least once.  As long as I only use it when I've been stuck for a very long time I don't find it detracts from the game at all.

[Andail]

When I played PQ1 there was no internet, so me and my pals played it for three years before beating it...now I would have spent three days on that game...you get spoiled

[Privateer Puddin']

well when i first got MI2, i didnt know how to save, so i just started again everytime i went to play it

[Nightfable]

I know how you feel, it happens to me often, I get stuck for weeks on a game, finally decide to look it up in the walkthrough and then I feel bad because the game's over too quickly.

The whole King's Quest series is an example. For some reason hey always find a way to get me really stuck. It's either a riddle or tiny detail I forgot to click on. How frustrating!

[Archangel (aka SoupDragon)]

I got all the way to Ireland in Broken Sword without a walkthrough, got completely stuck, and ended up using a walkthough to complete the rest in a day. How that sucked.

[Barcik]

I too usually use a walkthough at least once. One of the things I am most proud of is finishing Grim Fandango without a single hint!

[Pumaman]

When I played PQ1 there was no internet, so me and my pals played it for three years before beating it...now I would have spent three days on that game...you get spoiled

Hehe yeah, that's so true - when I was a kid, we'd spend hours and hours trying to figure out what to do in these games. It took me a fair few months to complete QFG1, and a couple of years to do KQ4... I guess these days it's too easy to just look up solutions on the internet if you get stuck.

[remixor]

I can't even remeber how long my friend and I spent on FOA back when it first came out, when neither of us had the internet or any sort of hint guides.  It was several months.  One of the most notable puzzles for us was the last time you had to align the three stones on a spindle, before you can go into the last room.  We never figured out where the clue for that one was (since it wasn't in Plato's lost dialogues), so we literally tried every single possible combination until we finally got it right.  That alone took us days.  When we finally won, however, it was cathartic.

[Evil]

I do that with tomb raider but I guess that isnt a true adventure game... But I have only played like 5 real adventure games and I have only beaten 1...

[Nightfable]

One thing for sure, I'm awful at RPGs or shooters, my brothers play them all the time but I officially never got even close to finish. The only RPG/Adventure game I kinda got into was Fallout and Fallout 2. I love solving the quests and interacting with the game characters.

Oh! I played Syberia and was blown away by the graphics, what a fun adventure game! They should make more games like this one, its too bad.

[Timosity]

I spent a year completeing Hero's Quest: So you want to be a hero
maybe 2 years (with many long breaks) but yeah, when I played most of the old games, There was no internet and therefore you had to buy a hint book or ring a hint line, which I never did cause I had no money back then.

Back then a lot of people at school were playing those games so you could get hints from friends that were ahead in the game.

I remember in about 1991 one of my friends had one of those modems you put the phone handset onto and you could hook up to a bbs, and I remember it had walkthru's on it, but it didn't have any I needed.

I prefer using something like UHS where if you get stuck you can find a subtle hint, and if you're still stuck you can get a better hint, until you give up and then you can get the solution. as long as you don't use it as a walkthru it works fine.

[auhsor]

I did the same thing in that puzzle in TLJ. I used UHS whis is better for the concience. I always end up going through each hint anyways, but it is better than a walkthrough. I reamember using UHS for MI4, and you had to register UHS to get the full thing, so i just finished the game without it...

[Ghormak]

When I played PQ1 there was no internet, so me and my pals played it for three years before beating it...now I would have spent three days on that game...you get spoiled

Quite so. Did I ever mention that I guessed random 555-xxxx numbers at the hotel where you're supposed to call for a cab? I didn't know there's 411 back then.

Ahh, the memories.

[Mennuz]

I completed discworld 2 without a hint .. It rocks my c...socks

[Pumaman]

Quite so. Did I ever mention that I guessed random 555-xxxx numbers at the hotel where you're supposed to call for a cab? I didn't know there's 411 back then.

Ahh, the memories.

Hehe, I remember in PQ2 I was stuck for ages where you had to phone the operator, because I kept trying 100 (the number in this country) and it wasn't working. It wasn't until several months later I found out that it was 0 in the US

[Eero]

When I was younger then I didnt play any adventures without walkthrus... Now I just don't need them anymore. Oh how I wish I'd lose my memory and could play them all again...

[Rincewind]

So true, so true. I feel horribly guilty when I think of all the times I've cheated in an adventure game... The only one that I passed without one single peek was actually DOTT - Believe it or not.

I did try to get through GK3 without any help, but in the end I just sat there, anxious to get to the climax, and tired of all god damn "do-a-wrong-move-and-get-chopped-in-half"-puzzles...

Discworld 2 was basically finished with a walkthrough from start to finish - But then it was my very first adventure game... The story and the great jokes was probably the thing that kept me going...

[12431]

I never feel guilty, and you haven't done anything wrong! if you guys hadn't gotten past that evil puzzle, you'd hate your games even more!

[Pesty]

I remember my family getting stuck for days in KQ5, where you need to get out of the forest. We eventually called the hintline. It took us such a long time to get through the rest of the game. Before the Internet, adventure games were so much more challenging. One day I should get back to basics and unhook my network cable so even if I'm tempted to cheat, I won't.

Being stuck for ages in a game is better than finishing it in an hour, in my opinion.

[Nightfable]

Being stuck for ages in a game is better than finishing it in an hour, in my opinion.

I have to agree, it's way too easy to finish an adventure game when the internet's around... I try to keep away from the evil walkthroughs at all costs.

[Harvester]

Yey!
It's mostly something like this: You start playing without the walkthrough, then get stuck, then decide to look in the walkthrough JUST THIS TIME, HONESTLY, and then "Oh man, how could I have been so stupid, this puzzle was soooooo easy!" and then you end up playing the game with the walkthrough unfolded in your lap. Man I hate that  
They spoke true when they said that half the pleasure of playing an adventure game comes from solving a difficult puzzle. I remember feeling so proud when I solved the RATBOY puzzle in Phantasmagoria 2 at the end of CD 1, that was great.

[Synthetique]

when im finished with my game i wont help any of you!!  

there should be a hint system where you had to pay a small amount of money.. that would keep us from them damned walkthroughs

[bspeerslemontart]

This discussion is probably dying (it always is by the time I get to it), but I had to mention a couple things.

First, there are a few games I believe are actually impossible without a walkthrough.  If anyone has ever beaten "Wizard and the Princess" without a guide, I want to meet them and ask them what exactly the logic is behind most of the puzzles.  I really had no idea even as I was solving it.  I mean, "hocus" -- what clue is there that you have to say "hocus" in some apparently random scene.  And finding a rock without a scorpion behind it.  Ugh.

But I generally do pretty good with puzzles that have any sort of discernable logic to them.  However, I almost ALWAYS fail pixel hunts or puzzles that require great patience/clicking everywhere.  I've downloaded numerous AGS games lately, and have played a lot of classic adventure games, and have been absoulutely stuck in almost every situation where the makers wanted me to try something that didn't work the first time.

Examples?  Teen Agent, where you need to pick up a particular rock.  Never figured out that there was a particular one to interact with on my own.

Kyrandia-- nuff said.

Just Another Point and Click Adventure -- Finding the tiny laundry shute hotspot drove me nuts.

Willy Beamish -- Perfect example of my own low tolerance.  There's a bit where you have to go through a sequence almost identical to one in which you die, but this time, because of a preparation, you survive, at the last moment.  I never waited long enough, and eventually bought a hint-book... which told me to wait.   Sigh.

Etc, etc.

[Gilbert]

Hmmm I never used a walkthrough with Kyrandia...

[veryweirdguy]

Is this solutionaholics anonymous?

I have commited the ultimate sin - I looked at the walkthrough to MI1 first time I played it. When I realised how unfulfiling it had been I played MI2 without one peek!

[Harvester]

Off the topic: Hey Blake, how's Edge Of Reality going?

Back to the topic: Fortunately I have finished some games without using a walkthrough, but most of them were solved by pure chance. Like in Innocent Until Caught, I accidentally combined two objects to get a crossbow. And in Larry 6, getting the swimsuit was a real pain and I had to solve it using the old "everything-on-everything" system.

And some games even have bugs which prevent them from being solved. Like Lure Of The Temptress (one of my favorites, by the way), one of the objects simply won't appear on the screen. You have to start the whole game again. I got stuck on that part, stopped playing the game, then started again a few weeks ago, and there it was. Yey.

Btw, have you noticed that I'm just talking nonsense here? Probably to keep my baby topic from dying  

[agsking]

Yey!
It's mostly something like this: You start playing without the walkthrough, then get stuck, then decide to look in the walkthrough JUST THIS TIME, HONESTLY, and then "Oh man, how could I have been so stupid, this puzzle was soooooo easy!" and then you end up playing the game with the walkthrough unfolded in your lap. Man I hate that  
They spoke true when they said that half the pleasure of playing an adventure game comes from solving a difficult puzzle.

It's the same exact thing with me.
I hate that! But it DOSE feel good to solve a hard puzzle without a walkthrough. So everyone, whats the hardest puzzle you ever solved without a walkthrough?

[Harvester]

Hmmmmm... RATBOY puzzle from Phantasmagoria 2 comes to mind, then... well, I solved MI 1 without walkthrough, but the hardest were some weird inventory puzzles in Innocent Until Caught and Leisure Suit Larry 6

[Archangel (aka SoupDragon)]

The proudest moment in my life was when I worked out, WITHOUT random clicking, that in order to get vinegar for the super battery in DOTT I had to ferment the wine for a few hundred years. Oh yeah, that and the making a tentacle-shaped american flag costume XD

[Barcik]

Well I think it means that you have quite a dull life, doesn't it?

[Gilbert]

The proudest moment in my life was when I worked out, WITHOUT random clicking, that in order to get vinegar for the super battery in DOTT I had to ferment the wine for a few hundred years. Oh yeah, that and the making a tentacle-shaped american flag costume XD

* Gilbot V7000a is ashamed, as he had to read the hintbook made the vinegar.

Too bad my copy of DOTT came with teh official hintbook when I bought it...

[bspeerso-matic]

Hmmm I never used a walkthrough with Kyrandia...

Yeah, I can see how that's possible, but I just messed up some of the more random puzzles that appeared to go nowhere.  Like the fireberry maze (I'm no good at mazes, so I had no idea what was inside), the 1 000 000 000 randomly placed gemstones and some other one.

However, I had a much better time with HOF.

And Harvester: I'm always shocked and amazed when I find people who care about that game.  I finally got my CD with the latest version from home and have finally figured out a major scripting problem that had been holding me back for months (combined with my own laziness, of course).  Expect it some time in July, or quite early in September.

But back OT, it's a challenge, isn't it.  Since the only real activity of Adventure games is solving puzzles, and since some things you just can't figure out like the creators, there's bound to be moments where you will be stuck, and you're bound to be disappointed when you cheat.  Now if you cheat on a puzzle in an action game or action adventure or RPG, you will likely feel less guilty.  So what if you know there's a 1up mushroom behind the hill--the main action isn't compromised.

Perhaps open-endedness is one solution.  Making our own games with multiple paths or lots to do when you're stuck.  One of the beautiful things about Sam and Max was how all the mini-games and the quasi-non-linearity of the adventure kept me interested and staved off my need to cheat.  "Maybe a game of whack-a-rat will help me think", etc.  That's one of the things I'm working on for Edge, BTW, though not nearly on the level of our favourite S&M duo.

[Sylpher]

At school the computers had Two games. Kings Quest 2 and this network Star Trek game (Which was acctually really fun). So everyday in my Comp. class I would finish my work up so I could play. Took me an entire school year (As well I copied the game on a floppy and took it home) and most of my summer break but I beat it without any assistance....Felt good. Cept for some reason at the end I couldn't figure out you needed to give your bride to be a kiss to finally end the game...

BUT! That story has nothing to do with this post. I can't remember cheating as far as a walkthrough goes but one game I am still to this day stuck on and refuse to peak is called Altered Destiney. Last I checked you can get it on Underdogs and if anyone can figure out what to do once you get down to the 'Surface' I will send you cookies. I am damn dead serious I will send you a box of fresh Three week old cookies...

[aussie]

I was stuck for two years at the kobold in QFG1. Then I discovered the thief could sneak up to him and steal the key. To date, I haven't managed to finish it with the warrior.

Also the drunk driver at PQ1 gave me a pretty hard time...

[Squinky]

Crap dude, just go kill stuff over and over and eventually you can beat em. Then I think you can run and drink a health potion and then fight again...ect..

[aussie]

Perhaps, but I tried and tried and tried. There could have been some sort of bug maybe, I don't know. I eventually lost interest. When I started agian I just used the theif.