This game is way too hard.

[Atlantis]

I had 9 hours play and completion at 65% or something but I got stuck so I left the game alone. So after many months I came back to try it again today and it's impossible. Can't do anything. I don't even remember the story and have 3 big islands and tons of items in my inventory. Really this is not fun anymore where you have to explore 3 big islands at the same time with hundreds of combinations. I give up.

Any other adventure games that are a little more linear and "better" designed? Something where you are stuck in once place at a time and can actually start to think instead of walking for hours and hours and trying tons of items together.

[bliss]

Yes, it's really quite hard. It was designed in the early 90's, back when it was also acceptable in arcade game design to frustrate the player as much as possible. Special Edition does add the hint system though. Did you try it?

I agree it's very hard to come back to a savegame after several months too. I'm also with you on the preference for more linear games.

Let's see, here on Steam I could recommend to you:

The Cat Lady
Primordia
The Walking Dead
Machinarium
Broken Age
The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav

[Parane]

I was 12 when I solved the game and I never used any sort of hint books. There was no Internet to use when I got stuck. Yes, some of the puzzles are hard but they're solvable.

[bliss]

I think "no internet" is actually the key. we had less distractions and more patience.

[Atlantis]

I played "indiana jones and the fate of atlantis" like that back in the day. No internet and solved everything myself. I even remember I was stuck and solved one puzzle in my sleep!

That was fun but I think Monkey Island 2 is harder than that.

[stucandoit]

This is a classic. Designed back when games were actually challenging. However, compaired to many adveenture games from back in the early 90's its pretty easy. There are no wrong choices to make and you can't die. Try adventures such as cruise for a corpse or darkseed and them tell me this game is difficult. MI1 & MI2 are 2 of my fav childhood games and continue to be until this day.

[bliss]

Originally posted by stucandoit:

This is a classic. Designed back when games were actually challenging. However, compaired to many adveenture games from back in the early 90's its pretty easy. There are no wrong choices to make and you can't die. Try adventures such as cruise for a corpse or darkseed and them tell me this game is difficult. MI1 & MI2 are 2 of my fav childhood games and continue to be until this day. :tlove:

In modern game design philosophy, much of this is viewed as negative. Now it's not so much about fighting the player, but more catering to their experience. The idea is not to have the player give up and feel defeated, and go to another product. I think new distractions, mainly the Internet has a lot to do with this.

It's definitely a balance though, as challenge can be engaging too. I like the idea of director AI and adaptive difficulty like L4D. Maybe we'll see this in adventure games eventually, as AI can become intelligent at analysing how the player is coping.

[Rocket Baby Dolls]

Have you ever heard of a walkthrough? There's a recent invention called a search engine which is kind of like asking a librarian to find a book for you. You just type something in and it brings up a list of web sites which can be helpful for what you are looking for.

Not to mention the Special Edition includes hints in game, as well as an object finder...

[stucandoit]

lolz

[=Mortequal=]

Hint "H" ;)

[smoke]

Just click on everything and combine every item you have!
That was the way I solved the game back in the day when I got really stuck.

[Pothocket]

Yeah, MI1 has much better game design. Some of puzzles in 2 are just dumb. Monkey Wrench anyone? Face it MI1 > MI2

[Parane]

Originally posted by Pothocket:

Some of puzzles in 2 are just dumb. Monkey Wrench anyone?

Dumb? I'd say genius. Very telling for the kind of humour the guys at LucasArts had.

[Pothocket]

Some. SOME. SOME of the puzzles in 2 are just plain dumb. The monkey wrench puzzle is not "genius"

[Parane]

Originally posted by Pothocket:

The monkey wrench puzzle is not "genius"

Yeah, it is. Frustrating and infuriating until you realise the concept.

[Pothocket]

You're describing the gambler club password puzzle, not the monkey wrench one. I see you don't own the game on Steam, so when was the last time you even played it?