MOST Favorite & LEAST favorite Puzzles | Forums

[Pat_09]

Hi, after reading your great responses to Martin's cool thread about why we/you love Myst so much, I got curious as to what your favorite and least favorite puzzles are.

I'm always curious about this because the responses usually provide a reminder of how VARIED the myst audience is and how rich the games are because the SAME puzzles can make people experience totally different things!

Personally, one of my favorites was the reaching the roof of the mechanical Age in Myst. The thing I loved about Myst is that the Ages were relatively small and you could wrap your head around an Age and carry it with you in your during the rest of the day to think about possible solutions for puzzles. It so happened that I couldn't quite figure out how to get up on the roof (elevator was in the way) and I was thinking and thinking (on the bus, in the shower, etc, etc). And then, at night, I dreamed (dreamed or dreamt?) about the game and about possible solutions. And then IN my dream, the answer came to me! I was so excited and then, boom, I woke up. But I could remember the dream and I could remember the solution, so I jumped out of bed, turned on the game and "voila", it worked!!! I was very excited and totally impressed that a game could do that to me!


As for my least favorite, I would say closing the door in Ghen's lab in Riven. I NEVER thought of doing that (cause you never have to do it with any other doors in the game) and I was LESS then impressed when I finally gave up (after 2 days) and finally resigned to search for a hint... Very frustrating (but Memorable nonetheless! ) moment for me.

[Pat_09]

Hi, after reading your great responses to Martin's cool thread about why we/you love Myst so much, I got curious as to what your favorite and least favorite puzzles are.

I'm always curious about this because the responses usually provide a reminder of how VARIED the myst audience is and how rich the games are because the SAME puzzles can make people experience totally different things!

Personally, one of my favorites was the reaching the roof of the mechanical Age in Myst. The thing I loved about Myst is that the Ages were relatively small and you could wrap your head around an Age and carry it with you in your during the rest of the day to think about possible solutions for puzzles. It so happened that I couldn't quite figure out how to get up on the roof (elevator was in the way) and I was thinking and thinking (on the bus, in the shower, etc, etc). And then, at night, I dreamed (dreamed or dreamt?) about the game and about possible solutions. And then IN my dream, the answer came to me! I was so excited and then, boom, I woke up. But I could remember the dream and I could remember the solution, so I jumped out of bed, turned on the game and "voila", it worked!!! I was very excited and totally impressed that a game could do that to me!


As for my least favorite, I would say closing the door in Ghen's lab in Riven. I NEVER thought of doing that (cause you never have to do it with any other doors in the game) and I was LESS then impressed when I finally gave up (after 2 days) and finally resigned to search for a hint... Very frustrating (but Memorable nonetheless! ) moment for me.

[Alahmnat]

I would have to say the Firemarble Dome super-puzzle is my all-time favorite, mainly because between myself, my dad, and my uncle, I was the one who figured it out first (and I was... 12 I think ). They thought I was crazy until I actually charted the whole thing out for them.

Least favorite... hmm... that one's harder. I wouldn't exactly count closing the doors as a puzzle... was more of a mind-crank than anything else (and we made sure to close *every* door we could find after that...). It did halt our progress for most of an afternoon (which was significant since we only played one day every two weeks). Anyhoo. I think I'd have to put my vote in for the Narayan symbol puzzle in Exile, mainly because of the difficulty I have believing that Atrus' brand new Releeshahn development journal would have the *exact* solution to a 30-year-old puzzle, whithout which you'd have been screwed. The fact that Saavy never thought to express his violence to the tree roots blocking the gondola doorway rather puzzled me too... they're wood, it's not exactly like you'd need a welding torch to get through them (and y'never know what he's got in that locked room anyway ).

----------
Guild of Archivists,
D'niPedia Writers Ring (DPWR.NET)
Uru and Myst Forum Moderator / Community Assistant
Please note: I do not respond to Private Topics dealing with technical support or hint requests for the Myst series

[GallifreyLady]

My most favorite puzzle, oddly enough, is the observatory one in Myst. I went into the room and sat in the chair, but nothing happened. I went to leave the room when I saw a button. I pressed it and the stars appeared on the ceiling. And the beautiful music was playing and... That moment defines the Myst experience for me--the sudden realization right before you're ready to take a break from the game; the giddy feeling you get when you solve a puzzle.

Least favorite goes to the Channelwood junction switches. It took me forever to realize that they controlled the water flow.

I also disliked the marble puzzles in Amateria, but the cool ride at the end more than made up for it!

[Cierdwyn]

My favorite puzzle is actually an entire age - Amateria. It's an entire series of puzzles that when completed are each a part of a larger puzzle. I loved figuring out that entire age! The segmented, weighted ball room made me the craziest of all the puzzles, but that last ride in the ball made it all so worth it.

My least favorite puzzle would have to be the one that Alahmnat likes so much. To this day I'm not quite certain how to figure out how you know WHERE to put the marbles in the grid. Colors I got, but the spots to put them ... struggled with it for a few days before giving up and going to a walkthrough. I know that it's something that I missed, just never figured out what it is.

I also enjoy any puzzle that engages my interest so much that it preoccupies my mind to varying degrees until either the answer, or ideas, suddenly pop into my head. You'll sleep on it, or be doing something else when a bunch of ideas will start rushing in to your mind and you've got possibilities to try again - usually one will be just the thing and the sense of "I got it!" is very satisfying.

Cierdwyn

[dr.sputnik]

I'll start with my least favourite:

Edanna.

What a wonderful set of visuals. But how hard did I find it?

Infuriating. And why? I'll probable never know! Took me forever and in the end (I'm not ashamed to admit) I had to use some hints. Actuallt, a lot of hints!!! Somehow that age just didn't seem to sit in my mind like the others did. And on this subject, I found Amateria the easiest in Exile. It was like playing pinball or something!

As for my favourite...ohhh....hard question indeed.

I think I'd be inclined to say Riven as a whole game! I just loved how the whole thing was less a puzzle and more a world that required understanding.

If you really forced me, I'd say that my favourite puzzle then, is the room that allows access to the link which leads you to the moiety hive.

(apologies in advance for spelling names wrong!)


_____________________________
Things are more like they were than they are now.

Please visit www.meeting-place.org and www.webpanda.com/yabbse/index.php

[Maxine MagicFox]

Hrrrm... this is a tough one. My favorite "collection" of puzzles, would be the world Amateria - that was SWEET. But my favorite single puzzle would have to be the 'lever' mechanism in Amateria. Why? Because so far it has proven to be the HARDEST one for me to figure out in the Myst games. I had to actually sit down and so some minor calculations and pay attention to not just "one" of the solutions in the J'nanin Observatory, but quite a few. ^_^

My least favorite?
The 'light switch compass' in Stone Ship Age. I still have no clue what the heck that "compass" thing is about and had to go on the net and get the cheat for that which is still kept nicely preserved in a notebook. That one went over and beyond my expertise. How did they get compass settings out of that, I dunno. I knew the individual pieces that made up solving it, but whenever I attempted it -_- I was once again back in the dark. I don't mind hard puzzles - when I understand them in the end.


WebMistress of Midnight Castle's Legends of Zelda

[Zenguy]

My favourite puzzle would be the marble puzzle under the dome in Riven. This was one of those puzzles that built up over time. I'd also vote for Amateria as a very cool puzzle.

My least favourite puzzles would be in URU - all too simple and one dimensional (each problem requiring only one element/clue to solve it). In particular, the tile floor in Kadesh Tolesa left me very disappointed; the solution ignoring the complexity available in the combinations of tiles.

Looking at my answers there's a strong preference for puzzles that require understanding (built up from a collection of interrelated elements/clues) rather than sequences of otherwise unrelated things (e.g. getting ot the last cloth in Eder Kemo in URU).

[This message was edited by Zenguy on Sat April 24 2004 at 04:19 PM.]

[Srikandi]

Well, let's see... liked the marble puzzle and the numbers in Riven; the sound puzzle (what was it called?) and Channelwood in Myst; Amateria AND Edanna in Exile; and the first Kadish Tolesa puzzle, and the Teledahn sun puzzle, in Uru.

I'm afraid that the puzzles I disliked are the ones I can't remember Except, naturally, for the Gira baskets in Uru, and also the Gahreesen power puzzle.

If I had to generalize, I think I like pattern puzzles.

Sri's Relto

[Almlys]

My favourite puzzle(s):

The riven animals' puzzle as the most favorite one, & the riven marble puzzle. Also, from Exile, the global puzzle from Amateria, I have returned to this age a lot of times to repeat the entire puzzle again)


Least: This one is hard.... (I can't, there aren't least favorite puzzles).

~Almlys