It's fun, but the "clues" are just useless

[Adun]

I had to refer to the guides so frequently now to find a plant that I allegedly should have found days ago, but the "clues" to these plants were just random pieces of junk or paper without any real information where even to start, or if it is something that I have to wait with for another few days. I wonder if the devs have played the game too often to realise how flimsy their clues are.

[Senlin]

My experiences were completely opposite. I managed to figure out all clues. Most of them can be done immediately, but some indeed can't. But if you need a plant from a specific clue, it must be possible to do by that time.

Maybe if you share which clue are you having problems with, we can give you some additional hints how to approach it.

[Psyringe]

I'm with Senlin here. I found the riddles interesting, but extremely easy to solve, the solution was usually immediately obvious. In fact, the very last achievement that I got was the one for solving the "broken mind" puzzle, because I never accumulated enough dread to get there. I also never used the game's "hint" function, there was simply no need.

That said, people obviously differ (I'm usually pretty decent with riddles, but I suck terribly at shoot'em-ups or fighting games). I think the main problem is probably not the difficulty of the tasks, but rather the fact that you tend to get stuck very quickly if you can't solve a riddle. You usually can't put the riddle aside (at least not for long), do other things, and try again later with a fresh mind. For a game that depends so much on clues and riddles, this isn't great design imho, it probably creates a lot of unnecessary frustration.

[Senlin]

Yeah, I guess it's personal differences. I found the difficulty to be really spot on. I like puzzle games, but in most of them the difficulty gets too high at some point and I rarely manage to completely finish them.

Here most of the time I was able to figure out the puzzles quickly, but it was still satisfying. A few times I had to think some more. I had to use hints several times as well, I also got a bit stuck near the ending, but in the end managed to do it without external help.

[worstcase11]

I personally only had trouble with one of the clue cards (the noble elder with the starry sky) and had to look that one up. All the other cards were easy by comparison.
Though I struggled a bit with the use of the decoder disc, as identifying the exact right location indicated was not that easy (as the opening is slightly bigger than the map squares, the zoom made the map scroll too fast/unintentionally and the disc usually covered more than half of the square it was pointing to).

[MadameHardy]

If you ask here, we can help you with the clues you're having problems with. I'm betting that there's one magical device you haven't tried.

[Adun]

Well, for example right now I need to brew the memory elixier. After several false tries I found out that I miss two of the plants required for it. All I have as clues is an empty card from a night vision and the star-gazing elder/Tebay card which had me running around Tebay several times now. I have no clue (ha) where to find the missing plants, but I can't get rid of the customer until I have them either.

PS I found the hidden text at least - I thought that was only on the map.

[MadameHardy]

Look at the initial letters of each word in the star-gazing elder poem

[Adun]

Originally posted by MadameHardy:

(spoiler)

Holy moly... how does anyone notice that? It was just "artistic" spacing for me. Thank you.

[worstcase11]

If you only used the spyglass on the map so far -did you take a good look at the desk or the unidentified plantsyet?

[Adun]

Originally posted by worstcase11:

If you only used the spyglass on the map so far -did you take a good look at the ..... or the .... yet?

The first yes, the second not yet. I start to wonder if I've got Covid brain and maybe should go back to bed instead of playing :/ Thank you.

[Psyringe]

Originally posted by julia_maluca:

Originally posted by MadameHardy:

(spoiler)

Holy moly... how does anyone notice that? It was just "artistic" spacing for me. Thank you.

I think the best way to look at the card riddles is this: There _has to_ be a clue on the card, and it _has to_ lead to a location on the map. There aren't many elements on the card to begin with. So if anything on the card looks unusual, it's probably the clue.

In case of this particular card, the placing of the words was the unusual part, and the sentence itself sounded a bit forced. So I pretty much immediately looked at the initial letters of the words, since that's the easiest and most primitive way to encode a word in a sentence. My first thought that the letters might spell the name of a location, which they obviously don't, but considering that all words start with the first letter of a cardinal direction, the meaning was pretty clear. ;)

Same approach for the "empty" card. The unusual part of that card is that there appears to be nothing on it. But we know that there has to be a clue on it. By that time we've already encountered invisible ink, so trying the looking glass isn't too far-fetched. ;)

[Cujo]

The only clue that threw me was the first one using the circular disk thing, as I had completely forgot it existed at that point. I kept stubbornly thinking of the "Kentmere Eye" to mean the mouth of the river, or the tip of the mountain, or the circle of stones near Kentmere. I even tried clicking on the "I" in "River Kent" before I figured it out.

Keep in mind that if you need to clue to get a plant to progress, the hints will tell you so, and give you hints about the clue instead of the plant. When your scholar friend shows up asking for Bella Nox and I had never heard of it, it pointed me to the Black Abbey.

[valerie.anne999]

Eye would never have said 'weird circle with symbols and a hole for no reason' to me. I kept looking for a place on the map because Kentmere was on the map. And really, I could not think of any other kind of eye.

You have to think like the person who created these clues. Which means if you're too different from that guy, you're lost. So yeah, completely useless clues for many people.

[Clawyer]

You don't miss out on anything if you don't solve the first letter from the Redemption right away. I think that one or two days later your friend comes by the shop and gives you the small cards that lead to a letter explaining the wheel with a hole in it, if you use the wheel that day you get the plant soon enough for when you actually need it.

[valerie.anne999]

Yeah, except I had no idea how to do that one. In fact, the buttons wouldn't even click until much later. I'd tried doing stuff to them and nothing ever happened with them for quite some time.