Poor Puzzle Design?

I haven't beaten the game yet, but is anyone else finding that a lot of puzzles are just very poorly designed? Two I just tried to solve specifically:

1) The puzzle where you have to redirect the thoughts. I solved it using only 4 of the 6 allocated arrow positions, unfortunately what the game failed to mention is that if the thought hits a blank arrow spot the thought fizzles up, when theoretically it makes sense that it would just go straight.

2) "Employment Error" or whatever it was called. I couldn't figure out how to do it without 1 guy throwing twice (not mentioned in the rules btw) so I used all the hints. The hints gave me pictures of configurations I already had set up and determined were completely impossible due to 1 guy only being able to throw to 1 other who was shown throwing somewhere else in the hint. 10 minutes and some help from my brother later we finally find the working configuration... and it doesn't look like the picture in one of the hints!

Edit: 3) "Changing Chairs". Solved the puzzle upside down and didn't realize it was suppose to be flipped over or that the chairs could be arranged so that it was flipped over.

I'm loving this game, it just seems that a lot of puzzles are not explained correctly in the rules.

Comments

  • edited July 2010
    1) The puzzle where you have to redirect the thoughts. I solved it using only 4 of the 6 allocated arrow positions, unfortunately what the game failed to mention is that if the thought hits a blank arrow spot the thought fizzles up, when theoretically it makes sense that it would just go straight.
    You didn't read rule #1 closely enough (The bold bit is my emphasis):
    1. Drag arrows from the menu to each of the highlighted spaces. Your mission is to direct Bo's thoughts from Nelson up to the lightbulb.


    2) "Employment Error" or whatever it was called. I couldn't figure out how to do it without 1 guy throwing twice (not mentioned in the rules btw) so I used all the hints. The hints gave me pictures of configurations I already had set up and determined were completely impossible due to 1 guy only being able to throw to 1 other who was shown throwing somewhere else in the hint. 10 minutes and some help from my brother later we finally find the working configuration... and it doesn't look like the picture in one of the hints!
    I agree. The bit about "each person gets the ball once" being absent from the rules is true, and no, the first hint picture provided is -not- part of the solution.


    Edit: 3) "Changing Chairs". Solved the puzzle upside down and didn't realize it was suppose to be flipped over or that the chairs could be arranged so that it was flipped over.
    Yeah, that seems to be an issue with radially-symmetrical puzzles. On one hand, I don't think a tree is supposed to grow downward, but if you assemble it upside-down, it would be nice if the game rotated it automatically.
Sign in to comment in this discussion.