Bad game design

[Eboreus]

Well, well, well, there are some examples of really lazy and bad game design in HL. The up to now most blatant one is the hippogryph quest with Natai Onai. So the main gate of the castle is shut and I have to climb up walls to find a way to lift the gate, because poor Miss Onai just can't follow me? Hello? Even more annoying: I've got a broom to fly with. But I just can't use it to get to the top of the castle. Instead I must deal with boxes to climb upon them, then climb up walls from there where I never would get up in the rest of the game. Why? Because the designers want it that way? Come on, that's just plain stupid.

Honestly, while doing this quest I came sooo close to just quitting the game and forget about it. If there is something similar coming up later on I guess I'll really do it.

[Kritter]

you should 100% quit now.

[Eboreus]

I'm afraid it will come to that.

[Smketreez]

You mean... what? Those systems pop up in a ton of quests throughout the game. The depulso gate lock, the levioso box, things found throughout the entire game.

You're going to HATE the depulso puzzle rooms.

[Eboreus]

It's not about using depulso in general. But when I got a broom to fly up why should I bother with that?

[Snobby Hobo]

What exactly would be your solution Einstein? Fly to the top of the building with miss Uganda on the back of the broom to yank the paper out of the tower with Accio? That would be a real fun 1 minute mission.

You haven't the faintest idea what "game design" means. These are challenges set within the context of the story - not the story dictating the challenges. By your logic you would have to literally sit in class for thousands of hours total before you'd be able to reach the character's level of competence.

[Jack Ryan]

No no, he's got a point. I like it when puzzles have multiple "good" answers depending on context. For example, with the levioso boxes, Levioso had somehow completely skipped my mind, so instead I used Wingardium Leviosa to put the box at the height I desired before casting Arresto Momentum on it and then jumping on it.
Of course I later found out that I was supposed to use levioso, and I then really appreciated that I had been allowed to use different means at my disposition to attain the answer instead of having been railroaded.

"The High Keep" quest, which is the Hyppogriph quest, clashes directly with these aspects because at the time you reach it, it's the most railroady quest yet, only accepting one "correct" answer.

For example, if you do the quest stealthily (which I assumed was the default course of action upon starting it because in context, we're 2 students going against a full castle of Dark Wizards and the quest first directs you to climbing the wall which seemed like a covert thing to me), you'll quickly realise some absurdity, like the dark wizards that teleport in as if you were fighting while you were going to stealthily take out their compatriots, which are ALL facing away from you when you arrive and showing ou their backs by the way.

If you do do it in a stealthy manner (yes you can petrificus totalus the enemies that come flying in, crying that they'll kill you even though they saw no one) your character will still say his lines about how hard that fight was.

Also, there is only one good answer to opening the gate. I had first ony opened it mildly before stopping it, and Onai refused to come in.
Then I opened it fully and cast arresto momentum on it, yet still miss Onai remained dumbly standing before the wide opened entrance because she didn't want to merely enter through the WIDE OPENED FRONT GATE, she also wanted it to remain wide opened so as to alert everyone that she was coming in.

And yet later in the mission she sneaks in through the big double doors?

Then at the end of the mission, you somehow just so happen to find 2 Hyppogryphs, one for each of you to ride on, and she gets on hers without doing any of the ritualistic bows or anything.
That last part is really just nitpicking frankly, but after she annoyed the hell out of me during the mission and was really just a complete burden during all of it, (since seeing how she comes running fleeing to you, she both got caught, and was unable to defeat the wizards on her side) it finished irritating me.

All in all, I really liked the game, just disliked this mission, and I can kind of see where OP is coming from.

[Grandmother CFO]

Its like the stairs of my house at 4am....

[hush]

Originally posted by Eboreus:

Well, well, well, there are some examples of really lazy and bad game design in HL. The up to now most blatant one is the hippogryph quest with Natai Onai. So the main gate of the castle is shut and I have to climb up walls to find a way to lift the gate, because poor Miss Onai just can't follow me? Hello? Even more annoying: I've got a broom to fly with. But I just can't use it to get to the top of the castle. Instead I must deal with boxes to climb upon them, then climb up walls from there where I never would get up in the rest of the game. Why? Because the designers want it that way? Come on, that's just plain stupid.

Honestly, while doing this quest I came sooo close to just quitting the game and forget about it. If there is something similar coming up later on I guess I'll really do it.

I feel you. Multiple solution for a puzzle like this should be allowed

[Eboreus]

Originally posted by Jack Ryan:

Also, there is only one good answer to opening the gate. I had first ony opened it mildly before stopping it, and Onai refused to come in.
Then I opened it fully and cast arresto momentum on it, yet still miss Onai remained dumbly standing before the wide opened entrance because she didn't want to merely enter through the WIDE OPENED FRONT GATE, she also wanted it to remain wide opened so as to alert everyone that she was coming in.

Oh yes, opening the gate was an idiotic torment, too

[dr.rosenrosen]

there's lots of stupid sh** like places you can't fly or land land because they want to force you into a certain path. a lock pick spell that doesn't pick locks, spells that are only good in a magic room etc. etc. but most of them aren't "I QUIT YEAAARGGHHHHH" kinds of things imo.

[SanglantCout]

Yep, shallow game that hooks u in the beginning

[Bandit]

if you could just fly over the walls there be no challenge and the game be over in 15 min.

[Hawk]

Found the Hufflepuff

[Eboreus]

Originally posted by corlandom:

but most of them aren't "I QUIT YEAAARGGHHHHH" kinds of things imo.

I agree. Even with all of it's flaws I kind of like the game. It's certainly not a 93% game, but it has lots of nice aspects, too. However that doesn't mean I'm willing to swallow every piece of sh**. If they get too crazy I'm off ...

[PocketYoda]

Wow these people, I enjoyed the mission a lot.. if i used a broom for every mission it would be a short game.

Originally posted by Hawk:

Found the Hufflepuff

Sounds more like Slytherin whining to me.. Hufflepuffs have no issues with hard work.