One of my pet peeves is when I can think of 5 solutions to a puzzle but none of them is the “right” one. But all is forgiven if the solution is particularly clever and fun.
And don’t insult the player in the hint menu!
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As for me I really don’t like using hints or cheats (if it’s not part of the game, and here I mean not built-in hint system) because it breaks the fun of the game. There was a game I finished only after 15 years. I think, If you get stuck put the game down and come back to it later. Even years later. It is possible that it will sparkle with new colors.
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I might spend a certain amount of time trying to figure out a puzzle without hints, but probably not a long time. If it gets to the point where trying to work out the solution isn’t fun anymore, I’ll probably check hints or ask for help. I don’t want to waste time on something that turns out to be a “guess the verb” issue.
I appreciate hint systems that let you decide how much help you want for a puzzle, starting with just a small nudge and, if you want more help, giving stronger hints. Solving a puzzle with a little bit of help can still be fun, as long as you are still figuring out part of it yourself.
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Good question!
I try my best to figure puzzles out for myself, but eventually I do reach a point where I cave and turn to the walkthrough, just enough to tell me one little thing, and then I go back to trying by myself. Sometimes I find out things which I would never, ever have thought out for myself; sometimes I end up kicking myself because it’s so obvious afterwards.
But I’m happy to let big parser games go on for a long time. I played Curses actively every day (I happened to pick it up shortly before we went into lockdown and my schedule outside of work was entirely clear) and still took over two months; other games I will happily play in a more sporadic way. I started Finding Martin sometime late last year, and still only have something like 75/360 points, so there’s obviously a lot left to do. I put it down for a while, and then I pick it back up again and work away at it. I still end up needing a fair number of hints, but I manage more without a guide than I expect.
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