I checked the solution and now I'm depressed!

[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.