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In the DC version is an option; you go in the menu and there is a checkbox you can check for skipping the puzzles by use of the "Strugglers' lament song". This gives you the possibility to see magical circles on the doors and gates of puzzles, and when playing the song, it dissolves the magical circle and opens the gate, without needing to do the puzzle.
Visually, it's done quite well, but I wished they had integrated the song better in the game itself, like the other songs, instead of a menu option. Anyway, it does the job for those not wanting to do a puzzle.
You're welcome. Feel free to ask if you have any other problems, or check out these forums (a lot will have been discussed before).
It's a bit unfortunate you seemed to have trouble with the sudoku-like stone-puzzles and it affected your enjoyment (reading and interpreting your review, at least). The game is pretty puzzle-heavy for sure, but since the DC has the strugglers' lament song now, I don't really think it's a problem anymore for the less puzzle-inclined.
Well, that's what the song is for. 😉
I think most puzzles are enjoyable, apart from a couple of the blood-fire thingy puzzles. The real problem I think was the pacing in some area's: sometimes one after another without any breather. That becomes a bit too much. But viewed on itself, I think most were quite doable at just the right difficulty level to make your brain ponder about it logically.
I did like how they slowly made you used to them: very easy ones at the start, and slowly getting more difficult. It provided for a gradually and naturally adaptive learning-curve.
But, as said, I understand that other people like puzzles less. But that was more of a concern with the OG, not with the DC, because one didn't have the song back then. Now, it is not really a point anymore, since you can skip those you want to skip.
Hmmpf. Well, I always thought those complaints were rather exagerated. The puzzles aren't THAT difficult, if one uses some basic logic and rational reasoning. Maybe a couple of the blood-fire-tile puzzle thingies at the end were a bit convoluted, but that's about all. The rest was rather easy, if you put your thoughts to it.
Granted, that not everyone likes puzzles, easy or difficult, is another matter, but that's not the fault of the game. And also: you can't please everyone. Some people even complained about the puzzles of skyrim being too hard, for cry'in out loud! While those were so simple they were almost an insult to intelligence itself.
I can't but feel that if they made it easy enough for all of us, they would have been too simple for me and others whom like a mental challenge in puzzleform.
I do agree with this: a couple of the puzzles at the end were a bit too much, the pacing of some puzzle-area's could be better, and the song should have been better integrated in the game itself. I'll talk about that later in this thread, when I have a bit more time.
Haha, really?
Well... yeah, I guess they should have made some hint about it, or something.
The main problem this happens though is, that they didn't integrate that 8th song very well into the game. I mean, it's not really *part* of the game, like all the other songs: it's just an option in the menu. So that is not consistent with all other songs you get. Yes, I really think they should have integrated it somehow in the game itself, just like all the others, even if only out of consistency-sake, and because it would feel much more natural, and would solve your problem as well, since you would just encounter it in-game.
As Chilkoot said, it was much of an afterthought, because there were some complaints about the puzzles. Now, me, I have lil complaints about it, because I'm pretty puzzle-prone, and I like puzzles. BUT. I could see the point of people *not* puzzle-inclined that they had to wade through all those puzzles, if they didn't enjoy them. That's why I always thought adding that song was a good thing. But as for the execution of it... dunno. Could have been done better, imho.
I still remember I was talking with some devs at the time (that was when OG was released and they were still providing patches and working on the DC), and I asked a dev about it. He said something like: "Ah, yes, we're going to have a solution to that. I can't tell you much about it in advance, but I think you will be pleasantly surprised!". Something to that affect.
Now, *visually* - how it's presented, with the green magical circle - I'm pretty okay with it and would say: well done. However, one can note it's a low-key effort in integrating it into the game. For two reasons:
1) As said, it makes little sense compared to how you get to know ALL the other songs. In fact, you *don't* get to know it through in-game mechanisms, like you just proved. There is no feeling of the song belonging there, more of a feeling it was just a quick add-on. It would have been much better if it got treated the same way as all the other songs. A little mini-quest would have been enough. Or even, for instance as a "gift" for playing your first tune to that guy standing there with his dog, in Skara Below. Now you sing/play your song, and get a short reaction in words, and that's it. A bit anti-climatic. Well, just let him give you a book or something, where you "learn" the new song. Mini-quest ended, you had something out of that interaction and feel compensated, and you've got a new song (with a small description in the book), and voila. Game-integrated.
2) The actual way of USING the song. Now it works like this: when you activate the checkbox, you ALWAYS see the circles when you come near a gate, and it's by playing the song you "solve" and open it. I would have done it differently: you see nothing UNTIL you play the song, THEN you see the magical circle, and THEN you'd need to use something at a certain "price" to be able to dissolve the circle and open it. Just like, you know, getting drunk or something. A consumable. (Alternatively, you could still let the song dissolve the circle and open the gate, but it's the usage of the consumables whom let you see the circles in the first place).
That's because I think it should not be just endless gratuitous use for actually opening the doors and gates; this makes the ability not only literally, but also proverbially cheap. Everything in an RPG should have consequences, so using this ability should have *some* in-game consequences as well. Now it doesn't. As "price" you could go for a reduction in XP, or in money (aka: a hefty price). Or you can do both and give an option, for instance, buy a "Potion of Puzzlement" - which is dirt-cheap, but makes your mind so dizzy you lose some XP if used, OR buy a "Scroll of Solution" at no XP cost when used, but costs a hefty 1000 gold coins. OR of course, one could try to solve it oneself after all. Three options to deal with it, thus. And, of course, one could use these items as extra rewards for difficult fights or hard to find chests/treasures - which would improve the reward-vs-effort scale as well; another benefit.
That's the two things I would like to see happen with this song, if ever there was a "final cut" or "anniversary edition" of BT4...
Most of the criticisms have been less about difficulty and more about the quantity and repetitiveness of the puzzles.
I knew chilkoot was too optimistic to think you guys would have gone to other greener pastures to complain at. ;-)
While the pacing could have been better in some area's, it was clearly indicated from the start the game had puzzles, though. And while it's not a perfect game, do note that "most of the criticisms" were made by nostalgic purists, whom didn't think it was close enough to the original BT's... of 30 years ago...
Since then, though, the rating has become better and better, and is now a "mostly positive" in the review score. Just saying, because you used to take these same scores as proof of how bad the game was, when they were still at "negative".
And yeah, I am salty, while the game is better now, I was so looking forward to it, then I got a steaming pile. Directors Cut and the strugglers lament made me pick it up again.