Am I just stupid????

[turboshitnerd]

I'm having so, so much trouble with the actual puzzles in this game. I've discovered a lot of the secret areas, such as the temple, the hell area, and even the glitch area, but more through following all the holes down to the end than actually solving puzzles. Through a combination of levels that introduce basic mechanics and a lot of unintended solutions by mining through the level barriers, I've managed to scrape by for a while, but I've gotten to the point where I need 45 bunnies to unlock the next area and I just can't do it. I still don't even really understand the trap puzzles - any time the play area gets larger than a few corridors I bang my head against the wall and look up someone playing on YouTube to try and understand the logic behind it.

What ends up happening is that there's no explanation of the underlying logic because they see it IMMEDIATELY, and then I go back to my game to copy their solution, except half the time i STILL can't figure it out, then I have to go back and follow their moves exactly like a script. Some of the later mechanics are a little easier to understand, like the treats, but after a few easy levels that teach the mechanic, they turn into these inscrutable mazes where I have no clue where to even start. Currently I'm stuck on N-8, and I really don't want to look it up on YouTube, but I've been banging my head against the wall and come up empty.

Is my spatial awareness really that bad? I managed to 100% complete Patrick's Parabox while only needing to look up a couple solutions – why am I having so much trouble with this?? Are there a bunch of rules I'm somehow not understanding? I already have 9 babies even, so it's not like I completely suck. The lateral-thinking aspect just seems way easier to me than the sokoban and I really don't understand what I'm doing wrong.

[turboshitnerd]

Update: I've watched more solutions to the puzzles I was having trouble with and... yeah, I would never have been able to get these on my own in a million years. I think I'm just not right-brained enough to be able to actually enjoy the game properly. I did manage to find my way to the elevator that plays the credits by digging around but of course, the way that area's puzzles work, I can't actually get to the top to open it up. I think I'm just gonna have to be content with that and call it quits.

tl;dr Yes, I am just stupid

[KuroOneHalf]

I would highly discourage spoiling yourself the puzzles, as it ruins the fun and keeps you from doing experimentation, which is what will bring you true understanding of the mechanics. Maybe ask someone for a hint if you're really stuck.

This game is relatively tough. Some part of it is about seeing through the noise. There's some levels with a lot of red herrings and it's about being able to tell what's a relevant piece of geometry and what isn't. You start to develop some surefire intuitions for what kinds of geometry will allow you to trick bunnies, and how they tend to behave in certain situations.

Patrick's is a fairly easy sokoban as they go (excellent though). You could perhaps maybe harden your skills by trying some other modern classics and returning to this? Pipe Push Paradise, The Witness. A bit harder would be Stephen's Sausage Roll, Bonfire Peaks, and Yugo Puzzle. Baba is the hardest of the big ones, much more than Paquerette, but beating a chunk of it would make you level up. :>

That said, you could just keep grinding this one and you'd for sure get better too. But if you're feeling mentally exhausted, try a different one for a change.

[turboshitnerd]

I had pretty much given up, so I ended up watching an 100% speedrun. Not that I remember all of the individual puzzle solutions, of course, that would be impossible, but I still kinda ruined the game for myself. It's all well and good though. Even if I somehow had stuck it out and done everything, I would have been really pissed off when I found out the game goes "whoops, we didn't actually add a reward for getting everything, check back later!" Like, ♥♥♥♥ off actually?

[Perseus]

Originally posted by turboshitnerd:

any time the play area gets larger than a few corridors I bang my head against the wall and look up someone playing on YouTube to try and understand the logic behind it.

What ends up happening is that there's no explanation of the underlying logic because they see it IMMEDIATELY,

Do you have an example of such videos? This game is very difficult, and being very good at puzzle games myself, your description of those player's solving speed makes them seem very fast.

[turboshitnerd]

I was actually very early in the game. As in, still struggling with the underwater and uh... yellow... sections.

[Boksha]

Originally posted by turboshitnerd:

What ends up happening is that there's no explanation of the underlying logic because they see it IMMEDIATELY

Trust me; they don't. Like people have said, a big part of the game is about experimenting and building up an intuition on what you can do to make the bunnies move where you want to, and what kind of geometry is needed to trap a bunny. The reality is this applies to basically all games; practically nobody gets how a game works immediately.

If you're looking up solution videos on YT, that's what you get: the solution. They don't show the underlying logic at all, and that likely cost whoever figured out the solution a good deal of time not shown in the video.

Later edit: as a practical example, I recorded myself solving E-20. It took me less than 10 seconds of playtime, plus 20 seconds of waiting for the rabbit to tucker itself out running in circles. Were I to upload a solution video, that video would be 30 seconds long. Did it take me 30 seconds to solve that puzzle? Of course not: it took me about 20 minutes of scratching my head, drawing diagrams on a screenshot of the level in Inkscape and having to realize I had to apply a bnnuy movement rule I'd almost forgotten about in the place where you'd last expect it. I'm not even counting the time I took a shower while probably still thinking about the puzzle.

I had moments like that on the underwater and hay levels as well. Sure, those puzzles are easy for me now, but they weren't when I first saw them.

[turboshitnerd]

Originally posted by Boksha:

If you're looking up solution videos on YT, that's what you get: the solution. They don't show the underlying logic at all, and that likely cost whoever figured out the solution a good deal of time not shown in the video.

I was watching LPs, not solution videos. No step by step explanation of their problem solving process, they just figured it out right away.

Not that it matters anyway, I've moved on from this game already.

[Boksha]

Originally posted by turboshitnerd:

I was watching LPs, not solution videos. No step by step explanation of their problem solving process, they just figured it out right away.

Fair; even so I don't think it's a good idea to mirror yourself to online videos of people playing a single player game to determine whether you should be playing that game or not. The question shouldn't be "am I too stupid?" but "am I enjoying this?" (and if you're not, but want to enjoy more different things, you can go a step further and ask "why am I not enjoying this?" without immediately falling back to "I'm too stupid", because even if you aren't naturally good at something, that means you probably shouldn't make it your job, but it doesn't have to make it unenjoyable as a pastime).

Coincidentally, this is literally the video that brought me to this game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbIhawL7DIE ; the conclusion is a little different from how I see things, but if you haven't seen it already it may still be enlightening.

Anyway, I hope you found or find some other game that scratches whatever itch you want scratched.

[turboshitnerd]

It's a great video and I might want to follow that account. But I'm still not going to boot up Bunburrows ever again. I just don't think this game is ever going to be fun for me.