I never played Shadowgate, so I'm only looking at the puzzles in relation to this game. I'm looking at puzzles and, knowing the solution, at my answer to the question: "Can the solution be derived logically from the premise of the puzzle and the hints given inside the dungeon?"Sophia wrote:Is there any puzzle that sticks out as being particularly bad? This dungeon was inspired by the game Shadowgate, and, to tell the truth, in that game, the puzzles were even less logical. I actually tried to make them a little more orderly.
A few puzzles stand out:
1) Desire-rised. I don't think the solution can be deduced from these two words, nor can the effect of the solution be predicted. It can all be rationalized afterwards, certainly, but I believe solving this puzzle comes from throwing it all at the wall and seeing what sticks.
2) I had given up on the mummy and kept going before I first visited this thread, precisely because lightning did not affect it. Had I not seen people mention that they had destroyed the mummy, I would have discounted it as 'flavor', like I did the banshee, and later would have wondered why I couldn't solve the puzzle that requires the mummy's item.
3) The item needed for the acid fountain is placed somewhere where such an item would not normally be located. The same can be said of the gold key and the anti-eye weapon. Actually, for the last two, I believe that only extreme frustration can lead to their discovery.
4) The wand puzzle is pretty logical, but if it's not too hard to implement, I think a message telling the player that the rapier doesn't work when tried would be nice. Until I found the correct item, I wondered for a while if I was going at it the wrong way.
5) I solved the magical box puzzle accidentally. The description makes it sound like there is something desirable inside the box even when it's empty.
6) The garden puzzle is not actually hard to solve, but I defy anyone to predict in advance how solving it will actually help getting the chest. Oh, and a message by the vi altar asking for remains would be nice. The hint that's there is just a little too subtle.
7) I couldn't tell why the following monsters are killed by the weapon that kills them as opposed to any other: Spectre, worm, incorporeal-being-whose-name-I-can't-recall-just-now, troll. Once again, it's a matter of throwing everything at the wall.
The weapon for the spectre is poorly hidden, in the sense that it promotes a culture of grabbing everything that isn't nailed down, just in case. I actually let my poor character starve for a while because I didn't dare eat the cheese!
A lot of these comments are nitpick, really. I enjoyed this game a lot, even though I am more of a physical puzzle type of person.