Most Memorable Puzzle

[Mr. Eff_v1legacy]

I was playing Silent Hill: Downpour with a friend the other day, and we were discussing how (among other things) lacklustre the puzzles were. I brought up the example of my favourite puzzle in any game, from Penumbra: Overture.

I found myself deep in an underground network of tunnels, with nowhere to go, beyond a single locked door. There is a key pad, but I couldn't find a pass code. The only sound in the empty corridors was beeping coming from a radio. Eventually, I realized it sounded like Morse Code. So I exited the game, looked up a guide on Morse Code, and copied it onto a piece of paper. Then, I compared that to the beeping I heard on the radio. Eventually, a pattern emerged - which turned out to be the code.

I loved this puzzle. It really made me think outside the box and, while not overly difficult, made me feel like a boss for solving it.

Have you guys had a similar experience?

 

[Barbas]

I was playing the Point Lookout expansion for Fallout 3 and doing a side quest in which I had to follow clues left for a long-dead Chinese spy, when I came across a little puzzle I felt stupid for not solving earlier. It involved speaking a password to open a safety deposit box in the bank, which was obviously impossible to do as a (mostly) silent protagonist. I tried listening to the spy's instructional recording again whilst standing in the bank, to try and figure out if I'd missed something, only to hear the safety deposit box unlock with a *click* at the moment the recorded voice spoke the pass code. It wasn't really very complicated, but then again I wasn't really very intelligent.

Not my finest hour.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

inb4 Psycho Mantis.

For me the most memorable one was the one that took me weeks to figure out- the World's Most Difficult Trick from Lufia 2. Though it remains insanely hard to this day, I later learned it was actually a variation on the 'Klotski' puzzle, which is perhaps better known for the little handheld 16-panel sliders where you must arrange them in numerical order. So maybe not so special, just difficult.

The rest of the game has quite a few good and difficult ones, such as a couple of rooms containing horsehead statues that teleport anyone who enters their line of sight to the entrance. You really have to use all of your tools to get through the later of these. Also a room where you must prevent nine plants arranged in a 3x3 formation from growing to a certain size by cutting or burning them for a certain length of time. It's harder than it sounds.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

On the subject of Silent Hill, I like the piano puzzle from the first game. It's challenging on a lot of levels. You have to connect the piano with the blackboard poem, single out the patterns in the poem and then somehow apply it on the piano keyboard. Doesn't make a lick of sense but it's challenging and very satisfying to solve on your own.