The Game has a fundamental issues with Puzzle Implementation

[I want to sniff vtubers]

Let me preface this by saying I enjoy the puzzles, and the story, and the multi-pronged implementation of routes and choices. But in this game, all these things end up in a perfect storm of confusion. Choices are great, but when you have to replay the game to unlock a new route or ending, it can be frustrating to replay a series of puzzles, especially if the number of routes and endings grows exponentially. The game's puzzles are great fun the first time through and add a lot to the storytelling, but tedious the second, and just frustrating after multiple playthroughs.

Part of this is just the limitation of RPGmaker and its save files, and the inherent un-replayability of puzzles like these, but man there's got to be a better way. Perhaps a global variable to let players skip past puzzle segments they've already played in another save file, or some other functionality. As further updates roll out I suspect these structures are only going to get more complex and to encourage players to explore as much of the game as they can, these things should be amended.

[tabio]

I gotta admit I've never used RPG maker so I dunno about how its saving functionality works, but what I agree with what you said. Making it so that if you played through a puzzle then you could just have an option to skip it would be ideal imo, also adding a way to save while in dialogue, since it's quite annoying having to sit through a ton of dialogue when I misclicked loading a save lol

[SolidPayne]

puzzles in TCOAAL are like platforming in a Devil May Cry game or puzzles in a Resident Evil game. Pretty brain dead but something to vary up the main course

[Midziscool]

Especially those puzzles you have no idea what to do they get annoying easily

[Corvo007]

I agree, a skip puzzle option in the pause menu would be nice

[Nikibugs]

A lot of the puzzles were very clever for the storytelling, while others were more roadblocks. So some of these ‘puzzles’ I wouldn’t even consider skippable.

For example, one of the opening puzzles where Grime Soul Andy is walking on eggshells for Renee, while managing so many things before he can get to the luxury of doing his homework, showcased quite a lot.

Another really cool one was evading Ashley’s eyes after Andrew started dating Julia, to show how the rumors started getting shut down as a result. It also felt like yet another scrutiny Andrew had to dodge.

Really loved the pink/yellow flower clash metaphor, where the pink ones (Ashley) grew like weeds and would kill the yellow flowers (Julia), which had to be specifically tended to or they’d die.

While some puzzles were more simplistic, they still snuck in relevant dialogue between solving them, like Ashley revealing she dropped out of high school while they advanced up the tower. The ones with the giant Renee/Julia/Ashley background looked so dang cool.

It’s more the puzzles that didn’t add much, such as the puzzle gatekeeping the Soul Playground, or breaking Andrew’s Talisman lock (solutions weren’t the most telegraphed, felt I got lucky in solving them) that I’d consider a skip function for on a replay.

I still like minor puzzles like the campground mazes, or rummaging for a makeshift bridge to get to Leyley. Some puzzles worked as better breaks than others, or felt better implemented for being an active part of the story sequence.

(I’m nostalgic for Pokémon HM04 Strength puzzles, so I’ll fight on the boulders being fun for me lol. Man, we even had HM05 Flash for a second with some basement candles getting lit :3 Oh hey Ashley also had HM01 Cut when chopping those little trees down with the ax!)