Top 10 Lists : The Top 10 Impossible Puzzles (Somewhat SPOILERS)
Puzzle games are kind of a gem nowadays (more often than not, most new games tend to be lighter in brains and heavier in brawns; it doesn't mean that puzzles are no more, but they're neither as many nor as hard as they used to be some years ago), and the most famous puzzle games may have an outstanding challenge, a breathtaking story and/or a nearly addictive gameplay; but what they do have is awesomely-difficult puzzles; some of them nearly impossible! This Top-10 is pretty bond on containing games you've searched Walkthroughs previously, since most, if not all, of these puzzles (sometimes whole games) may take weeks to figure out without a guide.
Inside the Prostetic Shoppe there's some weird reel device you can manipulate and mess with it, and whatever combination you choose, it makes a weird report to appear. Clues about what do these reels mean are scarce, when not downright nonexisting (all you get to know is that -SPOILERS AHEAD- this stuff works as a ID of sorts, and you must figure out which is Pegnose's, whose real name you'll have to figure out as well). Pretty hard without a walkthrough, but it doesn't score any higher in the list as not only this game has no if-you-screw-up-you-die style, as many games in this list have, but also it really doesn't take that long to do that with simple trial and error.
This one is a pretty hard game, specially given that a mistep might get you killed. And that sure is a great way to make a puzzle impossible. (Some SPOILERS incoming) You've got to get some stuff a murderer stole from it's victim, and once you get it, you have to go back to your maybe-girlfriend's place to check it out. Only ways out are the main door (no back doors here) and windows (several stories high - great chances of dying jumping). It's not that impossible compared to the other puzzles and riddles, but given the fact that this one is one of those if-you-screw-up-you-die puzzles, and a pretty hard one, this puzzle means business.
Pretty weird: you get some tire iron, and you're supposed to use it to strike a wrecked motorbike... just because the hero feels like it (and, by the way, he doesn't say a word about it: you have to figure it out all by yourself). You get some key stuff doing that, but whatever reason may be there for a man to strike a motorbike with a tire iron kind of escapes my understanding.
You're in a lumber room, and you're kind of stuck inside (pigeon attack!), and there's no way outside you can see, nor a way to scare the damned birds of hell away; the key here is a nail in the wall. It's very simple really, given that there's a toolbox with whatever tool you may need (problem is that you can't loot like crazy: the player character will only use these if he finds something useful), but there's a pretty pesky problem here: the nail itself is-just-a-single-PIXEL!!! No joke: there's a gray pixel in the wall, and THAT's the nail. You're supposed to scan each and every inch of that wall with the mouse, until the cursor says it found something. These people are pretty bastard when making puzzles!
If someone around here is getting weary of action-heavy and puzzle-light Survival Horror games, they should try this one. Let's say that there're almost no clues whatsoever about what to do, where to go - not even a chance about what might kill you. You cannot even EXAMINE anything! Your only chances are trial and error, and saving lotsa times (almost each and every time you enter a new room, and several archives). It's mandatory to explore every inch of each room for pickables, and you'll end up with a bunch of trash with little resemblance of being of any use - but you'll eventually use these, and it will take ages to learn what does anything do. It doesn't score higher in the list because this game is kinda cheating! Puzzles, once you figure them a little, aren't that hard; it's just that clues are literally nonexisting.
Actually, the very puzzle that had me get to GameFAQs.com for the first time (no other webs had any clues for Wild Arms...). Here there're five book shelves with little to no meaning whatsoever, and there's also five switches you've gotta activate in a sequence somewhat related to the books. It's scary even to the point of madness how vague clues may get. I wonder if there'll be a forum or something, 'cause "the game I first searched walkthroughs at GameFAQs" seems a great topic.
Just six words: WHERE ARE THE TWO REMAINING COINS??? Regardless of difficulty (this Silent Hill has several levels of difficulty for riddles), this puzzle is outrageously difficult, just because it takes pretty a time just to find out that you just need three coins: despite there're five sockets, you only need three coins - but it'll take ages to realize that, as the memo says about several weird things being in some of the sockets, and no coins resembling these (it DOES take long to discover that those entries mean blank sockets). This game is famous of it's awesome puzzles, but this one just beats them all. Also, you'll never ever forget the face someone will make once he/she discovers it only takes the three coins...
(SPOILERS ahead) Layout is simple: there's a single step-switch and you must place an icicle (an ice column) onto it in order to go forward. There're about eight icicles in the room, and of course, if you push one, it'll slide forward 'til it hits something. Floor is completely flat, and there're no columns nor stuff around to stop the moving icicles save for the walls and the other icicles. Par time for the puzzle: approximately 30 minutes. Enjoy...
So, you got the Sol Disc, right? And got your ass caught by the Nazi's... that's tough, man. And you're supposed to escape from a highestestest security base, without a weapon, lockpicks, tongs or any tools whatsoever!! Don't wanna be in yer trousers, bro... Well, the goal is very simple: you must escape (rescuing yer pals comes later), and if any guard spots you, you get killed. In words you'll understand better: you've gotta do quite a whole laundry-list of actions (some of which take a while to figure out), and if you screw up, you get killed... Enjoy.
You saw this a mile away, man! Shakespeare Puzzle might be the main reason for anyone to look for Silent Hill 3 at GameFAQs.com. Silent Hill has a riddle difficult setting option, and it has three options: easy, normal and hard (d'uh!). Whereas easy and normal versions are commonplace puzzles in Survival Horror (the meatier puzzles coming later), hard puzzles are worth several weeks long to decypher, and the very first one the most! To the point of being nigh-impossible to solve without a Walkthrough!!! The game expects you to have a noticeable knowledge about Shakespeare work, and to distinguish his books for vague clues about what are they about. You cannot even read the books ingame - even though you actually have to pick these very books for the puzzle! This is, without any doubt, the #1 Impossible Puzzle. The other major puzzles are also pretty hard, but by no means as hard as this one. (SPOILERS: By the way: the "big chubby fatty bird" for the furnace puzzle is the Linnet (no. 7))
If there were a Top 10 Reasons to Browse at GameFAQs, surely "figuring out a damn tough puzzle" would be the first one (or maybe the second, if first one is "getting all secrets items and boss fights of Final Fantasy Y (where Y some number; X cannot be used here due to Roman numerals)"). Puzzle games were the very reason I found GameFAQs for the first time, and maybe also for most readers around; but anyway, browse with caution: puzzle games are supposed to be brainy, and if whenever something pits you onto something fishy or weird you look for the solution, it gets boring fast enough; so use GameFAQs with caution.
List by HighEntomologist (10/27/2009)
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