[HEADING=1]A note on the final few steps of 5-1[/HEADING]
To be honest, I found the final clue by following a different name pattern entirely, and I'm not the only one who did so. We found it almost immediately after the website was discovered. However, with the people in the picture being who they are, there was another logical leap available that allowed us to bypass the last step. I was working on the final clue when someone else got the game name, and then all focus was drawn away from the puzzle and toward deducing the game from the pictures, which led me (us?) to believe that the last two steps were in fact red herrings.
Is there a way to get around this? I don't know. With a puzzle this complex (there are 7 clear logical steps), there are bound to be unintended paths to completion. The only thing I can think of is disallowing people from commenting on the game or its title, only on the puzzle. When people start commenting on the solution, the puzzle changes from the one originally set down by the Escapist staff and instead becomes a game of decoding clues to deduce the answer. However, since there are some cases where we may not have played every game that is a solution, that would necessarily remove some of us from the pool on the basis of game variety rather than puzzling ability.
Another possibility would I suppose be demanding a second step to entering the final puzzle's answer, where we have to also enter the solution to the last step of the puzzle directly. So after entering the correct game, make us prove that we got there legitimately. I think this may be the best way, as it forces us to solve the puzzle even if we manage to deduce the game name from unintended methods. I'd only recommend doing this on the last one though, as having to show our work on all 15 would be both tiresome and irritating.
I have been inspired by this week of puzzles to do something similar on another site, and this is the measure I will be putting in to make sure people solve the final puzzle rather than guessing the answer. I'll let you all know how it's received, and if it ends up being viable I hope to see it in the second instalment of the Puzzle Adventure.
but I wouldnt have gotten past day one without everyones help. Thanks Guys!
