One problem with first game that sucked. Solved in this game?

[DaveKap]

I loved Legend of Grimrock 1 but there was exactly one issue I had with it that I would like to know if they fixed it in this game.
Essentially, the only way to ensure you completely searched an area was to scan all of the walls. Constantly. Always walked up and down every single square staring at the walls to make sure that you didn't miss a hidden switch. On top of this, there was nothing to indicate whether or not you had found all of the hidden areas on a level.

So what I'm wondering is, does Legend of Grimrock 2 do anything to solve this stupid problem. Staring at walls and not knowing if you got all the area uncovered for a stage is something that needed fixing. Before I buy this game, can someone assure me this problem has been fixed so I don't have to consult an online guide every time I think I'm done with a stage? I hate cheating and I'd rather have something like a glowy compass or cold/hot sound effect to let me know I'm looking for secrets in the right area. Thanks for the help!

[Bropalm]

No, that hasn't changed.

[Grobnar Gnomehands]

You probably should not play this then, no this so called "problem" is not fixed. Searching around is still a big part of this game.

[Muted Kobold]

... Sir. What sort of dungeon crawling game would this be if you DIDN'T look for hidden buttons. Granted... you don't have to look for them if you wish... but you'll die a miserable death if you don't.

Besides... It's a lot easier to find the buttons, than to solve the puzzles in this game. LoG1 was child play.

LoG2? Oh my god! They hired the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ RIDDLER

[Platinumb]

Exploration is a huge problem in games, this game has a lot of exploration. Don't think you would like it.

[DaveKap]

Lots of people here quick to judge what I do and don't like based on a gameplay element that provides little-to-no gameplay functionality. Let me give you a thought experiment.

Imagine LoG1 but instead of having to search for hidden switches that open hidden doors, you instead had to (this might be crazy, hold on tight!) solve different interactive puzzles that are easy to spot but difficult to complete. *mind blown* I know, crazy, right? I mean, I guess if you didn't want more things to do and bigger puzzles to solve and would rather just study the same 2-3 textures of every square of the map over and over and over and over and over and holy wow you guys really think that's fun, don't you? You know, you'd make good security guards. Those guys stare at the same thing on their monitors day and night in the hopes to see something different.

Look, I get it, you want to defend this particularly boring process because it's not fixed in this game. That's fine. But keep in mind that there are plenty of absolutely amazing puzzle games out there that didn't require staring at a texture to see if it's different from the default texture in order to have hidden switches and interesting mechanics. FRACT OSC, Braid, the Portal games, Antichamber, and The Stanley Parable games just to name a few. Love 'em all. I'm not asking this game BE those games, I'm just suggesting someone re-evaluate whether those hidden switches provide any actual entertainment value to the overall product.

I'll probably love LoG2, especially if someone decides to mod the switches to do a faint audio cue when you enter a 5 square radius to let you know you should look around for them instead of having to spend the entire stage staring at walls. Perhaps someone who already owns it would like to do something interesting like that? I think I'll wait and see.

[Grobnar Gnomehands]

Man, you are a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ casual. Everything about your post makes me angry. They have not changed the game, you still have to find buttons. Don't buy it, I doubt anyone is going to make a casual alarm to ping you when you are close to a secret.

[kabukiman]

Well, usually you can "spot" a secret easily by checking your map. If there's an area missing, there's a good chance you should scan the accessible areas close to it for hidden switches. So far I haven't had a secret that required you to scan every wall, most if not all can be found with logical deduction. I rather have the other problem at the moment. Found a button (which was "hidden" in a pretty obvious location) but can't find the door/wall it triggers...

[Austellus]

No need to be so aggressive. It's perfectly fine if someone doesn't find button hunting thrilling, and even I agree it can be a chore, and that's from someone with literally days of play into the first game.

To DaveKap: Grimrock isn't ALL about hidden button searching. You only ever really have to do that for the secretest of secrets, any buttons you're required to push tend to be more obvious. The puzzles in plain sight are certainly enough to get any puzzle fan's thinking cap on.

[DaveKap]

Originally posted by kabukiman:

Well, usually you can "spot" a secret easily by checking your map. If there's an area missing, there's a good chance you should scan the accessible areas close to it for hidden switches. So far I haven't had a secret that required you to scan every wall, most if not all can be found with logical deduction. I rather have the other problem at the moment. Found a button (which was "hidden" in a pretty obvious location) but can't find the door/wall it triggers...

Ah see, an astute observer like yourself is giving me the perfect answer. If I can walk over all of the squares of a map and see no undiscovered areas, if I can fall down all the pits and see no open ways. if it is obvious to the entrepid adventurer that they have indeed filled the map full despite not staring at every wall for switches, then that is how you do this game justice.

I'm merely saying that if you go through an entire stage and the map looks completely filled, there shouldn't be any hidden switches left to look for. So then, I ask, if LoG2 completely works this way.

[Austellus]

Originally posted by DaveKap:

I'm merely saying that if you go through an entire stage and the map looks completely filled, there shouldn't be any hidden switches left to look for. So then, I ask, if LoG2 completely works this way.

While I don't have a means of checking on hand, you'll probably hoover up 90% or more of the secrets if you do that. There are extremely few that give no indication of their presence whatsoever.

[DaveKap]

Originally posted by Hutch:

While I don't have a means of checking on hand, you'll probably hoover up 90% or more of the secrets if you do that. There are extremely few that give no indication of their presence whatsoever.

Good to know. Thanks!

[kabukiman]

Originally posted by DaveKap:

...
I'm merely saying that if you go through an entire stage and the map looks completely filled, there shouldn't be any hidden switches left to look for. So then, I ask, if LoG2 completely works this way.

Well, nope can't confirm that. Just yesterday I spotted a button in a teleporter which I had completely missed, map looked complete. Searching gave me a 2nd button temporarily disabling the teleport so you could press the first, revealing a single square room.

However - finding such secrets is not required to go on. In the case above I got some equipment which was inferior to everything I was using.

[Austellus]

Originally posted by DaveKap:

Good to know. Thanks!

You're welcome! Always happy to spread the love of grimrock, it's a truly fantastic game. You don't see these kind of puzzles much these days, it almost brings me back to playing Riven with my father. Big stack of notes in front of us and trying to work out the obtuse-but-in-hindsight-clear-as-day hints.

[kabukiman]

There's another thing when looking for buttons:
Since buttons are "man-made", they only appear on built walls. No need to scan every rock formation in game...;)

[DaveKap]

Originally posted by kabukiman:

There's another thing when looking for buttons:
Since buttons are "man-made", they only appear on built walls. No need to scan every rock formation in game...;)

Ah I assume you're referring to the outdoor areas. Well that's good to know.

Originally posted by Hutch:

You're welcome! Always happy to spread the love of grimrock, it's a truly fantastic game. You don't see these kind of puzzles much these days, it almost brings me back to playing Riven with my father. Big stack of notes in front of us and trying to work out the obtuse-but-in-hindsight-clear-as-day hints.

Oh yeah, like I said, I loved everything about LoG1, just not the switch finding. I was an old school Myst series player (makes it easy to ignore being called a "casual" haha) with the notebook and everything so I know what's what.

Originally posted by kabukiman:

Well, nope can't confirm that. Just yesterday I spotted a button in a teleporter which I had completely missed, map looked complete. Searching gave me a 2nd button temporarily disabling the teleport so you could press the first, revealing a single square room.

However - finding such secrets is not required to go on. In the case above I got some equipment which was inferior to everything I was using.

Gotcha. Yeah, I assume such secrets are never necessary to actually finish the game, I just really really REALLY like devouring all of the content a game can give me and filling in the map completely so I'd rather be able to know I've done it than just sorta assume I did it.