Grimrock

Delta66 wrote:In lvl 4, once I understood that the secret button in "Trails of Thought" raised the traps that lead to another button in the central room. The time it tooks to quickly reach that button and move back to safety, I haven't the time to turn around to notice that this second button turn off the portal for a short time. Note also that this puzzle require a rather long sequence of actions, much more than 5-6.


Personally I also vote for more leeway on timing puzzles. I could understand that some players might want extra hardcore difficult challenges, but here an option on timing issue, like the one for monster strength could be useful.

To be fair, with relation to the difficulty, the puzzle you're speaking of is completely optional. It's supposed to be of a higher difficulty level than the rest of the level. You know you need to fall down that central pit (at least, you're supposed to have known that by this point...theoretically that's why you're searching around this area in the first place...to find a way to get into that pit), so it's not a stretch to expect you'd be checking to see if the button in the room is what allows you to do so.

Regarding the timing, we're never going to know unless we see some video from various machines, but if the people above that posted with very fast machines are also having a legit timing problem that could indicate that there is significant timer issue that should be looked at by the devs (in their case, it would be the timer ramping up too fast beyond the screen updates...resulting in the same loss of "input time" as the slow machines, but on the other end of the spectrum).

Obviously, it shouldn't behave this way. The "heartbeat" should be consistent regardless of your computer speed (assuming you meet a certain minimum floor).

jfunk wrote:

Delta66 wrote:In lvl 4, once I understood that the secret button in "Trails of Thought" raised the traps that lead to another button in the central room. The time it tooks to quickly reach that button and move back to safety, I haven't the time to turn around to notice that this second button turn off the portal for a short time. Note also that this puzzle require a rather long sequence of actions, much more than 5-6.

To be fair, with relation to the difficulty, the puzzle you're speaking of is completely optional. It's supposed to be of a higher difficulty level than the rest of the level. You know you need to fall down that central pit (at least, you're supposed to have known that by this point...theoretically that's why you're searching around this area in the first place...to find a way to get into that pit), so it's not a stretch to expect you'd be checking to see if the button in the room is what allows you to do so.

Right, hopefully this is only a bonus challenge. But soon in the level, once you fall into one of the trap that leads to the big room in level 5, you notice that mightily tempting thing locked in the central cell. after completing level 4, you always come back to that portal protecting the trap, and. So unless you are making a dash to go down as fast as possible, most players make a point of exploring levels inside out. And once you figured out what to do, moving downward without completing this puzzle, leaves you with a bad feeling.

Obviously, it shouldn't behave this way. The "heartbeat" should be consistent regardless of your computer speed (assuming you meet a certain minimum floor).

This sums up the problem very well.

I like the idea of an extra option at the start of the game to set the timer for timed puzzles/how long pits stay shut to slightly higher.

For those saying that this would make the game easier/ruin it/change it unacceptably, I assume you all noticed the 'Easy/Normal/Hard' setting for monster toughtness at the start: the game already has a degree of user customisation as far as difficulty goes - it even says to put it on 'Easy' for those who prefer not to worry so much about fighting and concentrate on puzzles. Playing on 'Easy' and playing on 'Hard' are surprisingly different experiences. Try it.

Why is a setting to make timed puzzles (other puzzles just take time to figure out - its only timed action ones that seem to be an issue) such a terrible idea?

And I'm not demanding it. Just chucking the thought out into the ether - maybe, just maybe the devs didn't think of this, or ruled it out cos they didn't think anyone would use/want it. We don't know.

Obviously, it shouldn't behave this way. The "heartbeat" should be consistent regardless of your computer speed (assuming you meet a certain minimum floor).

Yes. It should. And it appears it isn't.

>

I've been trying to get the Gear Key for 3 hours now of reloading, pressing the button and only once have I made it to the second button to press it, let alone make it off the pits again before they open.

It's been a fascinating conversation, but I actually think the gear key problem OP mentioned may be a bug. I say this because originally I had no problems reaching the button either. But after clearing the level, including placing the scrolls in the cubbies, suddenly the floor plates in the central room weren't working for me.

I suspect a large number of inexperienced players don't even realize they're overburdened... If the weight indicator on any of your characters is yellow, you're moving much slower...

Another argument against the "speed challenges". Is that they really detract for the otherwise excelent and tense atmosphere of the game.
I'm mean, that to do those challenges, I completetly change my frame of mind, from dungeon exploring, to a sort of piano lesson feeling.
I even go as far as to rearrange the positions of my mouse and keyboard, just focus on putting my finger on the correct keys and try to get the proper rythmn in my head, i.e. quickly, but not to fast as the game don't buffer inputs. It involves so much trials and reload that I completly lost the explore or RPG feeling.

I'm currently on level 6( I proceed at my own pace), I just have completed the long puzzle to get the Sword of nex. I think that the whole sequence is around 40 actions long. This is almost ridiculous, a 20 steps sequence would have be long enough. I would expect this from an arcade game, not a dungeon crawler, even if it is a real time one.

You could argue that this is only a bonus challenge, but actually I can't know for sure so far.

Okay so everone who has problems at timed puzzles (especially that one in level 3 or 4 what OP was talking about)

is either not smart enough to recognize that turning costs time aswell and should be avoided

or

has some serious hardware problems

because really, that puzzle is not hard or "nearly impossible timewise"

I can do it really easy on my machine.

Try "Press Button" A W W W A A Q Q "Press Button" A A S S.

As you see if only turned twice in the whole puzzle which saves you huge amounts of time.

Now I would like to know from you if you can do it that way. Because if not, it cant be your or the games fault but your hardware's because its. not. hard. really.

Pipsissiwa wrote:I like the idea of an extra option at the start of the game to set the timer for timed puzzles/how long pits stay shut to slightly higher.

For those saying that this would make the game easier/ruin it/change it unacceptably, I assume you all noticed the 'Easy/Normal/Hard' setting for monster toughtness at the start: the game already has a degree of user customisation as far as difficulty goes - it even says to put it on 'Easy' for those who prefer not to worry so much about fighting and concentrate on puzzles. Playing on 'Easy' and playing on 'Hard' are surprisingly different experiences. Try it.

Why is a setting to make timed puzzles (other puzzles just take time to figure out - its only timed action ones that seem to be an issue) such a terrible idea?

And I'm not demanding it. Just chucking the thought out into the ether - maybe, just maybe the devs didn't think of this, or ruled it out cos they didn't think anyone would use/want it. We don't know.

Did it ever occur to you that the reason that there is no puzzle slider might be a conscious decision. The fact that only the combat can be altered should indicate exactly where the focus of the game is... ie the puzzles. Your argument is invalid.

For those with Nvidia Optimus and two video cards:

To set LoG to run on your NVIDIA card only

Nvidia Contol Panel--Manage 3D Settings--Program Settings Tab--add LoG exec--Select High Performance Nvidia processor in drop down box--click apply.

I noticed a bit of a responsiveness increase.

I sympathize with Op...some of the puzzles seemed unfair, at first until I devised a strategy of my own to solve them. Also agree, that one ought not have to try dozens of times to complete a Puzzle in any PC game. On the other hand, after having completed the more difficult puzzles, I miss the challenge--exasperating as any one may have been--and felt thoroughly rewarded after completion of each. I also think there's a difference between "hand holding" in a game by the developer, and ruthless difficulty. Myself, I prefer anything of a difficulty which does not leave me with carpal tunnel. Floating arrows above treasure chests, NPC's and quest goals are ridiculous...another reason to laude LoG. I hope the OP has found her happy medium and is back to enjoying this great game.

Hardware wise, the game runs smoothly with all eye candy at high resolution, which I did turn down quite a bit to solve one puzzlein particular.

My Specs:

Alienware M14X
Intel i7-2670QM @ 2.20 GHz w/turbo and all that
64bit Win 7 Home Premium
6 GB RAM
3 GB Nvidia 555GT