[Vainamoinen]

I wish the PC/Mac version of L&O was out soon, because right now I think a couple of guys are just going back and forth about a game they have never even played.


Dashing's BTTF analysis (which I approve) is of course a lampoon. Visible disappointment with the game puts certain things more into focus than others, which doesn't necessarily make the critique less valid. Such massive effort to analyse every detail necessarily results in "nitpicking". Of course it does. I feel that this is quite all right though because neither is the big picture neglected, nor can a good adventure game afford to disregard said details. But this is not the place to talk about BTTF yet again.

What we have here are the clashing critiques of two extremes - uninspired, entirely "easy" puzzles on the one hand and illogical "hard" puzzles on the other. I can say with some certainty that most people on these forums would wish for game designers to find a balance between the two, to keep the feeling of a challenge high while avoiding frustration. And who knows, you might even both belong to that group.

"Adventure" is already one of the least defined genres in video game culture. And from the look of things, applying the "adventure" puzzle paradigm to L&O might be a bit more difficult here than it was in BTTF.

From reports up to now, I have classified L&O:L as less of a "puzzle solving" experience and more of a "choose your own adventure" design. Cases act out differently according to your choices, results will explicitly vary. Seems like a valid and interesting concept to me, so I'd give it a try and reserve judgement for later.