Puzzle Discussion, What makes a good puzzle? Options

[MEands]

I absolutely love solving puzzles in video games, but when it comes to the "go right and get the key to go left and get the key to go up" then I get frustrated. I feel happy when the answer to a puzzle was clearly sitting in front of you, but you were unable to see it without further examination.

I want to know what everyone thinks makes a good puzzle, and if you're in a really creative mood, then just write out an entire plan for a map's puzzle.

[Laue]

I really have mixed feelings about puzzles in RPGs. Some can be done well, but usually they are just a hindrance. Thrown in there just for the sake of being there. My favorite RPGs have no puzzles at all. The only puzzle is how to optimize your party. But I suppose it's a way of overcompensating for lack of character customization or boring battles.

So yeah, unless it really should be there story-wise, I don't think there should be puzzles. Look up Persona 3 & 4, they got no puzzles. It's puzzle enough how to use your time efficiently, fuse what with what, etc.

[bulmabriefs144]

I really have mixed feelings about puzzles in RPGs. Some can be done well, but usually they are just a hindrance. Thrown in there just for the sake of being there. My favorite RPGs have no puzzles at all. The only puzzle is how to optimize your party. But I suppose it's a way of overcompensating for lack of character customization or boring battles.

So yeah, unless it really should be there story-wise, I don't think there should be puzzles. Look up Persona 3 & 4, they got no puzzles. It's puzzle enough how to use your time efficiently, fuse what with what, etc.

Games I don't play, and have never wanted to play. Battles without any trick to them (which is itself a type of puzzle) are boring. Character customization is kinda boring too, unless done well.

Zelda, on the other hand, is fun. Good games should have puzzles like zelda. Easy to understand, but sometimes difficult to solve, with tools and components to help in the solving. Some of the later zelda games are on DS and have puzzles where you shout/blow or close the lid to solve a puzzle.

The most interesting puzzles however are not from zelda but from an old arcade game called Tower of Druaga. Stuff like killing enemies in a sequence or hitting the exit door with a fireball, or using a konami style code. Which brings us to another aspect of puzzles. Solving them can be optional matters for rare treasure, rather than mandatory affairs to solve the dungeon.