Strangest adventure game puzzles...

Inspired by the 'wierd problems' thread below; I got to thinking about those 'stumpers' from adventure games that had us lost for ages. Back then, we had to reply on mags for walkthroughs; and if you missed them; you had to order ruddy back issues!

Here are a few of mine:

Dark Seed: Of course! Leave the bobby pin UNDER the pillow in the light world, despite the fact that your other items transferred. That stank; they forced the game to make the puzzle. Great game, though.

Gobliins 2: Most of the entire game. Oh, those French Gobliins games...'crazy'. As my copy was not entirely kosher; I had no idea that the puzzles would be so off the wall, and it's only in emulation that I've come to enjoy these games.

Secret of Monkey Island: That door with about a million padlocks on it. If I remember correctly, you just had to 'open door'. Genuis! Frustrating!

KGB: After uncovering the vice scandal in the hotel, I returned to my room and kept getting killed by my double-crossing comrade. Turns out the trick was to make your tape recorder play when the word 'talk' is mentioned, and then use a dialogue that involved that word. I mean...of course...

Future Wars: This one is legend for adventurers. At some point in the 'future' section of the game, there is a very (as in almost invisible) gas cylinder you have to somehow see and collect. If you miss it and progress into the game, you cannot get any further as you don't have the gas cylinder. How I laughed when I had to restart the entire game.

[TikTok]

Secret of Monkey Island: That door with about a million padlocks on it. If I remember correctly, you just had to 'open door'. Genuis! Frustrating!

IIRC the door is locked in the hard version of the game. Did you play the "I've never played an adventure game before, I'm scared" version?

I wish I could remember. I know I didn't play MI2 on the 'lite' setting, and I'm not even sure if I saw this puzzle in my game, or my friends. If it was mine; when I am a pathetic girly girl who is scared of proper puzzles and I should be flogged...

[7-Zark-7]

Three mind benders from LSL II that I recall being so much fun-
1) Not buying the sunscreen lotion from the Pharmacy in the first section of the game-once on the boat cruise progress is impossible without it & you have to restart the game at least until before you're supposed to leave.

2) The pixel perfect precision of obtaining a sharp knife on the island you get washed up on following your escape from the perils of the U.S.S. Lovetub- with only ONE opportunity, & the painful experience of wandering around lost in the jungle moving from one location to the other, you have to repeat this nightmare again if you progress through to the sequence of landing on NontooNyt island only to be stuck unable to free yourself from your parachute

3) An infamous bug,(& admitted by Al Lowe himself), you had to type an exact phrasing to make a wick out of the airsick bag to create a bomb & gain access to a lift shaft.

I enjoyed LSL 2 immensely, but I could've done without backtracking through parts of the game all over missing a couple of pixels!

fair comment...

Perhaps the worst example was at the start of Future Wars, where you had to stick a flag in a map, but the hole for the flag was quite literally one pixel, and on TV resolution (as I played it back then) very hard to discern...

[kolorabi]

Originally Posted by The_Sentinel

Perhaps the worst example was at the start of Future Wars, where you had to stick a flag in a map, but the hole for the flag was quite literally one pixel, and on TV resolution (as I played it back then) very hard to discern...

Very hard?!? Bloody impossible!!

[Shatterhand]

About The Monkey Island 2 puzzle...

If you are mentioning the big door in the LeChuck's dungeon... it is a big door with dozens of padlocks, but there's a small door in the big door (Like a "dog's door"). You just have to open that one and ignore all the other doors. Now I remember you had to get a key somewhere in this part of the game, but I don't remember if it was for this door. Anyway, I got past this part the 1st time I played it. What really got me stuck was that you had to "hipnotize" the monkey playing the piano and how to do it (I won't spoil for those who maybe haven't played the game).

Dreamweb - In the church, very close to the end, the way you find the secret door. That was SILLY (If anyone ever played the game), at that point I was just trying random stuff. This game is SO full of red herrings, it's just not funny. And the ending was pathetic. This game was good only in the beggining, then the plot gets destroyed and the puzzles get alls stupid. For me it always felt like the developes rushed out the game, because that's how the last 2/3 of the game feels.

[Drake1009]

Regarding Dreamweb. They probably thought that if people pirated the game they'd find a nice game in the start and then buy the full game because it was great. I really liked the start of dreamweb, but the ending was just getting worse and worse.

[tjo]

Originally Posted by Shatterhand

About The Monkey Island 2 puzzle...

If you are mentioning the big door in the LeChuck's dungeon... it is a big door with dozens of padlocks, but there's a small door in the big door (Like a "dog's door"). You just have to open that one and ignore all the other doors. Now I remember you had to get a key somewhere in this part of the game, but I don't remember if it was for this door.

The key you're looking for in this part is probably the one behind this door.

[Shatterhand]

YAY, I remembered what puzzle really annoyed me in Monkey Island 2. It may be silly, because I bet for many people it was pretty easy to find it out.

It's that puzzle with the guy behind a door who only shows his hand. The "If this is 4, and this is 1, what is this?" stuff. GODDAMN , I NEVER figured out what the heck was that. I remember I begun to memorize a few combinations which repated themselves, but there were dozens of them. Then I just begun to random click and at one moment I got lucky . Could anyone do me a favour and tell me HOW THE HELL that thing worked?

[Konrad]

It's just the first number of fingers he shows no matter what he says.

[EmuChicken]

lol that bit with the hand- legendary
I remember having a piece of paper, noting down all the ones I saw and still couldnt make a way of doing it unless they repeated
.. The way konrad said, yeh I worked this out the second time I completed monkey island (first time was Amiga, second on PC- thank GOD no diskswapping!)

In regards to the original question, MANY beneath a steel sky stuffs, I had problems with, Future Wars, I manage to get into that past bit, then got totally stuck- I hate adventures where its SO easy to die!

Kings Quest 1 / 2 / 3- still nowhere near completing any of them!
Still I'd have to say that future wars deserves a hardest game prize- god knows how anyone can complete that game without somesort of guide!

[Shatterhand]

DUH ... I feel stupid now...

[KombatSanta]

No, you don't need a key in the "hard version" to get in the "doggy-door".

Simon2: you had to get past the monster with a 1000 eyes and a 1000 ears. The eyes part was easy, you just had to cut the power. But to sneak past it was a bit harder. First you had to go to the role-playing nerds and transform one nerd into a puppy. Then you go to the monster and "wear puppy". The puppy will then transform into "puppy-slippers". Logical? No! Funny? yes!

[Mr Creosote]

"look ground" in the first King's Quest - I bet nobody actually tried that without being told.

The colour puzzle to activate the 'subway' in The Dig. I never met anyone who could explain to me how the player is supposed to find out which of the 100+ thingies to pick.

[KombatSanta]

Originally Posted by Mr Creosote

"look ground" in the first King's Quest - I bet nobody actually tried that without being told.

The colour puzzle to activate the 'subway' in The Dig. I never met anyone who could explain to me how the player is supposed to find out which of the 100+ thingies to pick.

yeah, "the dig" was a tough one. I remember another puzzle were you should put a skelleton together and pour some life-juice over it.

[Adeptus]

Originally Posted by Shatterhand

Dreamweb <...>

I never finished Dreamweb - bought it for the PC on budget re-release, so no manual, but did have notes on the CD sleeve (eg, the PIN for your apartment).
Got stuck somewhere so downloaded a walkthrough.
Got to a point with a PIN-locked door, the walkthrough said "Thanks to (whoever) for cracking the game, you don't need to know the PIN"

[Npl]

Theres a pretty obvious hint in MI2 when you "Look at" the locks, something like "those are more locks than any adventure game contains keys". Well atleast it was obvious to me.

Indy 3 was pretty annoying - at the first test you had to click a specific spot to get through the blades.

Future Wars - how often did you have to put the coin in the newspaper-box until it worked?

[Npl]

another one - MI 1: when you got your feet tied to that ugly stone (idol?) and thrown into the sea

[KombatSanta]

Originally Posted by Npl

another one - MI 1: when you got your feet tied to that ugly stone (idol?) and thrown into the sea

Not very hard, mostly just funny.. VERY funny!