Did we fail the game? Or did the game fail us?

[Tom]

My wife and I played this together, shortly after it was released. We're mostly adventure game players. She's intuitive, I'm logical, so our play styles complement each other and if one of us is stumped the other usually comes through with a problem approach or a solution. For example we had a wonderful time playing the entire Myst games, from the first one through the URU series, and we've played many others such as the Syberia trilogy, The Longest Journey, and others. When Rand Miller said he was going to create another game in that genre, we were all over it.

But this game completely baffled us. As Kickstarter backers we had all the pre-order stuff such as the hint/walkthrough book for reference, but as veteran adventure gamers we worked hard at trying to solve the problems by ourselves, and to finally appeal to the hint book only as a last resort.

We totally failed to understand what was happening. Invariably we'd have to let the walkthrough book lead us by the hand and even with that help, when we finished a section of the game we had absolutely no idea what had happened and why. At the end of each section, the hint book would have something like a "here's what happened" section, and we'd look at each other with baffled expressions, and all we had to say was "Huh?"

So the question that continues to bother me: did we fail the game, or was the game, and the puzzles we were given, just so obscure that it could not be played with pleasure, and with a growing understanding of the world we were experiencing?

I don't expect answers to that question; playing such a game is a personal experience. But it still bothers me somewhat.

[Halloween Jack]

I'm sorry to see the story and experience of Obduction didn't gel for you and your wife, Tom.
I can't really speak to why this would be.

One person's experience of a title may be fun, exciting, clearly relatable to their understanding of the world and the paths they've followed in life, while to another it may be a confusing, frustrating mess. To still another it may be some mashed blend of the two extremes.

With some games, additional playthroughs provide more insight and reveal layers to the story they contain. Perhaps Obduciton is such a game for you and your wife.

As you said, a game is a personal experience. We hope, if you do play again, that you find the enjoyment you were seeking.

[Tom]

Thanks, @Halloween Jack. We'll be back for Firmament :-)

[shspvr]

Originally posted by Tom:

Thanks, @Halloween Jack. We'll be back for Firmament :-)

Me too

[Ghidrah1]

I didn't have a problem following the story, there were enough clues laid about along with the confused garbled instructions provided by CW to understand what was going on and why.
The main puzzles, (world trees) were also obvious, getting from point A to B was the slow part. For me copious note taking, (objects and obstacles found and where) were a major help, (along with taking breaks when the frustration level got high) I think it allowed for the cold eye approach, (I often solve a puzzle at night while in bed, spatial ones at least).

Up till the update, (late 2018/early 2019) I only had 1 real issue, the tower/rotating floor maze puzzle. Getting to said puzzle was tough but with empirical deduction, many pages of a legal sized notepad the trial and error method and well over 8 hrs of work, I made it to the tower.

The rotating floor maze puzzle was just mean, if there were any discoverable clues to its workings I didn't find them and if they did exist I didn't recognize them as such. I did seek help. My take on this puzzle is that you're meant to fail, but once you become aware of the scam the bloody thing is simple.

After the 2018/19 update they messed up a later, (critical Maray puzzle) horribly and gave the excuse "we couldn't figure out how to make the clue appear the way it had before the update so we took it out of the game. There's another clue you can follow to get you to the next area. Wicked lame.

If you lean toward masochism you might try "The Witness"

[Tom]

@Ghidrah1, we did try The Witness, with great anticipation after reading all the press about its unusual nature. We were going along just fine until we hit one puzzle that stopped us. We worked at it, and worked at it, and worked at it, with no success, and then just hung it up on the principle that there would only be harder ones ahead of us. So that was that for Witness.

Nowadays, of course, somebody will have posted a Youtube video on that one and all the rest as well, but while we weren't aware of that phenomenon at the time we would have been reluctant to use that kind of help anyway. We're pretty old-school.

[Ghidrah1]

Tom,
I made it to, I think the base of the mountain and began moving up before giving up.
My issue was, if you set a solve pattern for a group of puzzles, no matter how large or convoluted they become the pattern remains the same.
The game changed the solving pattern of some of the puzzles, (not sure if they began at the sound puzzles) or just after, its been a couple years since I played. I was getting into the game big time, they were fun puzzles and then I crashed.