Old School Puzzles

I’ve been juggling between newer and older games a lot lately. There is something inherently different about older games, something more than just cosmetic and I think I’ve finally figured out what it is. That difference is in how we are asked to solve puzzles.

Every time I go back and play an old game, something at least as old as the mid 90’s, I end up getting stumped by something stupid. After solving whatever was causing the hindrance I always find myself more frustrated rather than relieved or proud. The puzzles that cause this always have been completely random and illogical solutions. Once I know the answer, I’m usually flabbergasted trying to understand why anyone would logically work this puzzle out in his or her head. My favorite example of this is from Ocarina of Time and I know I’m going to get some flack for this, but even 10/10s have flaws. Especially when you play them for the first time almost ten years after release.

Anyway, the conundrum I’m talking about is how to acquire the fire tunic in order to enter the Fire Temple. To get the tunic you must bomb a small Goron that is rolling around his village. He then stops, talks to you and hands over the tunic. This minor part took me around three hours to figure out. Upon figuring it out I didn’t feel that lovely sensation I got after solving a particularly difficult part in a game like Braid, instead I just wondered why anyone would bother bombing that rolling guy for any reason other than already having exhausted all other options. Even the conversation you have upon acquiring the tunic seems out of the blue. The game teaches you that you can bomb the rolling guy, but doesn’t give you any real reason too, at least not one you would expect to advance the main quest.

Compare this with Twilight Princess, Nintendo’s latest major foray into the world of Hyrule and you’ll find something quite different. All the steps to gain access to each dungeon made perfect sense. For instance, around the middle of the game you are tasked with melting Lake Hylia. You know you must use your partner, Midna, to teleport an object to the lake to accomplish this. You should also remember walking by a giant molten rock an hour or two earlier in the game. The game lets you know early on that the item will be right next to one of your very finite teleport locations, which further helps you jump to a quick conclusion. This puzzle can be solved by thinking rather than trying everything you can until blindly stumble forward.

However, as much as I welcome this new way of puzzle presentation, it is not without its faults. Games these days are traditionally far too easy and Twilight Princess is no exception. I was never stumped for more than a minute or two by the dungeon intermediary puzzles in the main quest line. This seems to hold for plenty of other games as well, especially JRPGs. The most complex puzzle in the last JRPG I played, FF12, consisted of little more than pressing a few switches.

I understand why games have arrived at the way they are now. It’s simply better design to make puzzles that adhere to logic. I also get why they’ve gotten so much easier. Simply put, making difficult and clever puzzles is not easy. I don’t necessarily have a solution other than spending more time trying to add complexity though I definitely think we are heading in the right direction. I’ll take a puzzle I can think my way through over one that requires me to scour the entire game world any day.