That Darned 'Bar 41' Puzzle [No Spoilers]

ivan11111

Chapter 1 was great. Really, really great. Don't get me wrong. But I've been bugged by one small thing, and its the absolute ease of the 'Bar 41' Puzzle. I'm giving nothing away to those who haven't played it yet when I say that when you reach that point, you're staggered at how easy it was to complete. Now I'm not asking for a mind-crunchingly difficult pixel hunt, or an item combination that you'd never have thought of...but i'd like an explorable bar, with perhaps two regulars and a barman. It would be quite fun to talk to them, desperately trying a barfight, but nothing you try manages to anger them. Guybrush could say "Darn, this is the time when I really need that ultimate insult", and you'd be just a little frustrated at how well the other pirates took your abuse. The puzzle could be solved simply, perhaps by sticking the little sword in the pirate's eye, or asking for something other than a grog. I just think that slight extension would make the first chapter perfect.
What do you chaps think? Any other ideas?

Astro Gnocci

i think they were going for something like the idol stealing from MI1.
Didn't quite work, at least for me, tho. I agree that it was disapointing, but well, it ain't too much of a deal for me. It mostly feels a bit unbalanced compared to the other two things you've got to do.

Shmeh

I think it may have been made intentionally easy because it could be considered the first puzzle after the demo (which you were walked through to some degree). People who have never played an adventure game before may not have found this puzzle as straight forward as most people who have played the game. I don't expect anything this easy in any of the future episodes.

Megaloman

Since it was the first puzzle I solved on Flotsam I didn't think of it that much. But yes, it would've been great to make it some steps longer. I guess it's there to show new players that sometimes you have to find an item on another screen to solve the earlier puzzles or something like that.

Steverin0

Way too easy for me and was hoping it would serve some more purpose - in the end, the actual area we played in was tiny, a little disappointing, I'm a sucker for 2/3 islands and having to go to and fro to solves puzzles. Aren't we all..

coolsome

Steverin0 wrote: »

Way too easy for me and was hoping it would serve some more purpose - in the end, the actual area we played in was tiny, a little disappointing, I'm a sucker for 2/3 islands and having to go to and fro to solves puzzles. Aren't we all..

I my self am hopeing 4 blood islands return

Shale

Just making it like the idol theft or snake escape, with a ton of "objects" you can't actually see or use, would have been nice.

ivan11111

Interesting about it being a sort of demi-walkthrough puzzle, and if so then it bodes well for the four future episodes, in which hopefully we'll have no tutorials like the beginning at all, to get our money's worth, if you see what I mean. I did feel that this episode was just a teensy bit too short to really get stuck into, but any extension of the story would have been tedious.

Gryffalio

Didn't work all that well for me, either. I see what they were aiming at, but not actually doing anything in the bar was an anticlimax.

Marill

Meh, it gave me a giggle and then a "that's it?" feeling. It could of been better I agree.

So far the game's got simple puzzles, either that or I've gotten much better at solving them over the years :P (nah!)

guitarsareboring

I think the title of this needs to be changed now as there are some spoilers in here.

I was a little disappointed with the 'puzzle', as amusing as it was... I assumed you'd be able to go in again later in the episode and look around as part of another task.

Gryffalio

I think, really, it just felt a bit empty having only the creepy shack and the lab to go in. I know its faster and cheaper to have the reporter outside etc. But it would have been nice to have a deeper feel to the island, with the buildings not just like a film-set facade.