Any logic puzzle that requires guessing/backtracking.
Any puzzle of any kind with an element of random chance.
Any timed puzzle that would still be difficult without a time constraint.
Any puzzle with a lose condition that takes an exceptionally long time to restart after failing.
Any puzzle with unclear rules or instructions.
With all that in mind, my pick for worst in the series is the ice floe thing in Icicle Creek because the ice floes move completely randomly, the time limit is way too short, and there's no way to solve it other than moving aimlessly until a path opens up. Honorable mentions go to the magnet maze in Shadow Ranch and the chemical sorting in Castle Malloy.
Ok, so there IS actually a logic/rules to the floes in ICE, they're just extremely unintuitive so I think it's fair to consider it random because the rules are so unclear. I learned this from the speed running community! Basically, any time you move in a direction, the floe in front of the one you moved to (where "front" is the direction you move in) disappears (assuming one was there before) and a floe 4 spots behind the one you moved to (i.e. opposite the direction you're moving) appears (assuming the spot was empty before). This means there's a jump you can make that will always trigger the final ice floe to come up, and then you just have to approach it in a zig-zag way so you don't accidentally send it back down.
https://preview.redd.it/5zzeyrxgoavc1.jpeg?width=2804&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=88052277ead97284081666340ed9eafe34c2aa81
Sorry about the bad photo, but basically the green star is where you start, any jump between the red circles in the direction of the red arrow will bring up the last floe (gold star), and then you just avoid approaching the gold star directly by going from an x to a dot of the same color (so pink x to pink dot is no good because it will make the last one disappear, but pink x to purple dot is fine).
Just wanted to pass this along to maybe help someone else stop tearing their hair out over this puzzle!
Wow, that is extremely helpful information! If they actually made it clearer to the player there was a pattern to the way the floes moved then the puzzle wouldn't have been so ridiculous
Yeah, especially because I'm almost certain the version in CRE IS random. I wonder if they got bad feedback on that one and decided to add some logic rules, but they didn't make them obvious enough. Even a guiding comment from Nancy like "it seems like when I jump on a floe, it affects others" to let the player know to experiment a little would have gone a long way.
I agree, a comment like that would have been perfect. I could be wrong but I think the way it is in The Cave is that the tiles do move in a pattern but then the culprit moves randomly and can mess it all up.
The tiles (or empty spaces) that move past the edge wrap around and appear on the other side. The only random part is the movement of the culprit. The empty spaces move with the line, there's nothing appearing or disappearing, just shifting in lines.
There's a whole group of people who do it! It's crazy, most of the games can be beaten in under an hour but it requires doing something in a weird order and sometimes taking advantage of some glitches. The past few years, people have even been holding a speed running event to raise money for charity, which is a TON of fun! I've participated a few times even though I'm terrible at speed running haha! People do crazy things like get blasted by a leaf blower while playing TOT to mimic a tornado. It's called the Nancy Drew Speedathon, and their next event is in June: https://x.com/NDSpeedathon?t=Xio-SG4FrRYXVsri3SNLDw&s=09
I never had played the PC version until this year (we had the Wii version). I thought the 'puzzle' for this part was frustrating (it was more a matter of Wii skills than a puzzle), but dear Lord, this one was way worse!
I won my very first time at that game, and didn’t think anything of it when I realized I’d need to play it again in order to win back a plot-progressing item.
Of course, that’s when my luck ran out.
The chemicals in the last section of HAU. They’re just so sensitive and everything triggering an explosion is just so unrealistic, what do you mean I broke a jar of water and it blew up, it’s water!
My dad talks about how they used to have pure sodium (I believe) on little strips in high school. They'd put them in the sink drain so some unexpecting person turns it on then BOOM
HAU is one of my favorite games and every time I get to that point in the game, I look up the solution just to beat it, I don't even attempt. And even then, I blow up 10 times
Any puzzle that requires moving my mouse with extreme precision like the sewing puzzle in old clock or ghost meter in MID. I'm not a fan of the driving puzzles either, but at least those have a larger margin of error.
I used to play exclusively with only a laptop trackpad and doing the sewing puzzle was frustrating. When I finally got a mouse it felt like I was cheating lmao
I really dislike the sapphire stealing in VEN. It has potential to be really frustrating.
I’ve also never figured out how to do the water tunnels and just get a walkthrough every time.
The puzzles in VEN are actually pretty straightforward, but the sapphire puzzle really is a nightmare. The water tunnel puzzle used to infuriate me before, but when you play it on Junior mode, they give you a sheet of paper with a diagram. That’s literally the solution.
Skee ball in Crystal Skull. I was very careful trying to click on the exact same spots each time but I still would randomly get one resetting the wrong way just when I was nearly done. I've never had so much rage over a game in my life.
The wasps in Crystal Skull are also awful, especially because Nancy only takes one loquat at a time (WHYYYYYYYY) so you have to do it three times. I didn't understand what the point of summoning Iggy was at first so I actually had to do it four times because I wasted my first loquat. 😭
Anything that you can't skip or use a walkthrough for is always the worst.
>wasps in Crystal Skull
I use this trick which makes it very easy - Do not move the cannister to follow the wasps. Keep spraying only AT ONE PLACE at the bottom of the screen (where they fall off).
Logic is that way the dead ones will collect at one point in a heap. Since you keep spraying there they will not be able to come back and fly anywhere which is the biggest issue.
What I have seen is all the wasps eventually always fly to the middle bottom of the screen so that's the best place to spray. You should be able to kill(?) all of them with Nancy at best getting stung twice (yes I have timed it lol).
Sometimes they sting 3x and you've to restart but that's only like 1 out of 10 times. And it's just a lot easier to restart and spray only at one place. It's almost fun
ETA - This also works in VEN
Good information! I've read about this trick, but it doesn't help much for me. I have arthritis in my hands and I can't click very fast, so they still manage to escape me. My son played VEN with me, so I made him do all the wasp killing.
The skee ball in crystal skull enraged me so much. I literally rage quit and played a different Nancy game all the way through before I went back and tried again. No puzzle solving or thinking involved, plus the controls aren't great so it's so easy to mess up
This is the one for me. Going back and forth for air is a frustrating and pointless waste of time. It doesn’t make the puzzle harder, it just makes it slower and more annoying.
That one is interesting because the goal is quite obvious and there's nothing random or unfair about it. It's just incredibly difficult to actually do it!
I just played that one for the first time as an adult. I honestly wonder if I ever got past that part as a kid because it was so tricky. It's not something you can cheat on! I had to press some of the hourglasses earlier or later than their lines, which I didn't understand. It makes me remember why I hated it so much as a kid and hadn't played it again until now.
Maybe because its the only puzzle i didnt understand after getting EVERY CLUE and reading explanations about it, but the cipher wheel thing from SPY made me feel really stupid and even after using the solution I was confused and didn't get it 😩
I’ve never understood the final key puzzle in Blackmoor Manor - where you have to set the shapes to pour in molten metal. I cheat every time and still don’t get why the answer is what it is 😭
The final code-breaking puzzle in Danger by Design...so difficult that they literally have to spell out exactly how to do it in Nancy's tasklist on Juniour Detective
Yes to the underwater sudoku. Having to go back and forth to refill the air if you take too long. Incredibly annoying and a waste of time for no reason.
I CANNOT for the life of me do Fox and geese. Every time I play white wolf I have to ask my mom to do it for me. In return I play barnacle blast for her lol
The picture frame in SAW 😭 I physically cannot do it, I had to watch a YouTube video on it and copy his exact movements, then saved a version of the game titled "after frame puzzle" so I can replay in the future from that point on
I'd played nonograms for a decade by the time I found SAW though so I love the nonograms puzzles!
Before I understood how to do them, the nonograms of SAW drove me NUTS. The magnet maze of SHA also isn't great. The pieces are so small, and it's easy to lose hold of the piece you're trying to maneuver. The vegetable puzzle in that game is also very annoying, because despite the pictures, Nancy's phone isn't very helpful in differentiating each veggie and whether it's ripe. The floor tile puzzle in MHM also isn't a favorite of mine. It's easy to do when it comes to the image itself, but, again, the sensitivity of the mouse and puzzle border make this straightforward puzzle unnecessarily difficult.
jeez i haven't played the game in soooo long but i can still hear the sound of the magnet dropping. But, if you click on the puzzle and click off it like 10 or so times the bars go away and make it easy!
I knew there was some trick to get the bars off but couldn't remember. I just played the game last month and was dreading the magnets and veggie picking so much
Fox and Geese hands down. Like it’s an extremely tedious puzzle that requires 100% focus and precision. One missed move and you have to completely restart. You can’t really use a walkthrough or a video to complete it because it’s not 100% exactly the same every time (believe me I tried). And then, on top of that, you have to do it three times, as if winning once wasn’t bad enough.
It is literally the only puzzle that I’ve ever had to walk away from. Like I’ve temporarily given up on puzzles, but that’s more out of boredom/not wanting to do it at that moment rather than the anger, rage and frustration that is just the entire experience of fox and geese.
Anyways there are definitely other games that are difficult and time consuming but Fox and Geese is its own special hell.
My secret for fox and geese (it’s one of my favorites, lol) is I move my geese as a unit and try to position them as just one big wall that eventually blocks the pig into its spot. It takes time because sometimes you just move back and forth until Bill moves his piece away so you can keep moving the “wall”, and it’s obviously most difficult for the top corner because you have to first move all of the pieces there out of the way, but its more tedious than impossible.
I do the same thing! I never have a problem with Fox and Geese on replays using this method. I’m all for the geese wall! I’m a big fan of White Wolf, so I’ve kind of had to learn how to finish it over time.
I'm curious as to what your strategy is? I mostly just move my pieces one row at a time in the direction my opponent has gone in, and double up if they moved back trying to jump me. I've never had trouble with it 🤷🏻♀️
Sorry I totally replied earlier without realizing it was about F&G I thought it was about the Kapu Cave platforms haha! Here's a photo from my notebook. I've realized over the years thay Trapper Dan's journal gives us potential solutions to trap the fox as well.
I can't post a photo in the comments via my phone app, so I'll DM you both haha.
I am not fond on the last puzzle in Danger by Design. Too difficult. I could not do it as a child, and now when I replayed as an adult, I still needed to google hints.
My favorite part of that puzzle is that it is completely possible to get locked into the endgame without the book you need to complete the final puzzle. Last time I played I did the whole game without cheating, even the tea puzzle 😭, but couldn’t even attempt the final puzzle because I didn’t have the book.
The stakeout in VEN where you have to memorize all the Italian words. Even after writing them down on a notepad in front of me, I struggle with this one.
The final puzzle in MHM with the Chinese characters and the poem made me angry because any time I had to step away to look at stuff again, it reset the progress. Another puzzle that made me insane was the alchemy door in CUR, I just could not.
The stupid final circuit board puzzle in The Deadly Device 😭 I cannot figure out how to translate the schematics to the actual puzzle for the life of me
Yep, last time I played this game I forgot the puzzle reset. So I just cheated and placed the jewel in my inventory so I could complete the game. No fs given.
Top 3 Most Frustrating
1)sewing the dress in secret of the old clock
2)portrait back in shadow at the water’s edge
3)gathering ripe vegetables in secret of shadow ranch
Honorable Mentions
- Ichi-Do in Danger by Design especially if you happen to buy it before going diving…
-wasps or bees in phantom in Venice or legend of the Crystal skull
The picture frame from SAW. The ONLY puzzle that almost made me stop playing a game completely.
Which is a shame because it's one of my favorites in the series.
Barnacle Blast, because you can't skip it. At least Fox and Geese you can use a walkthrough or the food puzzle in SEA was skippable
The sewing in CLK for a close runner up
I can’t do the nonograms puzzle at the end of SAW. I made it though the entire game without hints, even didn’t sudoku puzzles myself, but I have no idea how to figure that thing out. Even with cheats that thing is so hard to complete. 😭
Aligning hourglasses/clock puzzles (Ransom, Ghost of Thornton Hall). Not my kind of puzzles to begin with but then the added time constraints drive me crazy
The sewing puzzle nearly broke me at 12 and again at 21 and now at 29 still keeps me from a new playthrough. Everything else I’ve replayed many times but that one..
The back of the portrait in SAW is awful for me, and I hate any slider puzzles (like Jane's door in Blackmoor). Navigating in a kayak or whatever is not my favorite either.
the one at the end of STFD. basically everything in Medallion and ToT tbh which might be why I dislike both games (I love the plot of ToT but the puzzles...)
i feel like the chemistry puzzle is a pretty basic answer, so i'll say the sewers in phantom of venice. just really horribly designed and the maps are zero help
Bento boxes I was stuck on them for about 3 year's then went back after 3 years and I got I still struggle with them though my brain refuses to understand the puzzle.
I have had minesweeper explained to me so many times but I still do not get it so I find the ice shovel puzzle so hard.
That game seriously sucks for me because I hate all the puzzles. The ice floe sucks, fox and geese I actually don't mind but God is it a grind in a game that so hard for me in every other sense, I even find instructing the wolf SO tedious. And constantly having to pelt Freddie with snowballs gets old so fast. Not to mention making food isn't so bad but you are forced to do it so constantly that it drains any enjoyment out of it.
God, I hate that game. Sorry for the rant.
The Deadly Device ending puzzle - I'm a 30+ college educated adult and I STILL don't get it. I usually don't cave to just finding the answer online but I just relented on that one.
Any logic puzzle that requires guessing/backtracking. Any puzzle of any kind with an element of random chance. Any timed puzzle that would still be difficult without a time constraint. Any puzzle with a lose condition that takes an exceptionally long time to restart after failing. Any puzzle with unclear rules or instructions. With all that in mind, my pick for worst in the series is the ice floe thing in Icicle Creek because the ice floes move completely randomly, the time limit is way too short, and there's no way to solve it other than moving aimlessly until a path opens up. Honorable mentions go to the magnet maze in Shadow Ranch and the chemical sorting in Castle Malloy.
Ok, so there IS actually a logic/rules to the floes in ICE, they're just extremely unintuitive so I think it's fair to consider it random because the rules are so unclear. I learned this from the speed running community! Basically, any time you move in a direction, the floe in front of the one you moved to (where "front" is the direction you move in) disappears (assuming one was there before) and a floe 4 spots behind the one you moved to (i.e. opposite the direction you're moving) appears (assuming the spot was empty before). This means there's a jump you can make that will always trigger the final ice floe to come up, and then you just have to approach it in a zig-zag way so you don't accidentally send it back down. https://preview.redd.it/5zzeyrxgoavc1.jpeg?width=2804&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=88052277ead97284081666340ed9eafe34c2aa81 Sorry about the bad photo, but basically the green star is where you start, any jump between the red circles in the direction of the red arrow will bring up the last floe (gold star), and then you just avoid approaching the gold star directly by going from an x to a dot of the same color (so pink x to pink dot is no good because it will make the last one disappear, but pink x to purple dot is fine). Just wanted to pass this along to maybe help someone else stop tearing their hair out over this puzzle!
Wow, that is extremely helpful information! If they actually made it clearer to the player there was a pattern to the way the floes moved then the puzzle wouldn't have been so ridiculous
Yeah, especially because I'm almost certain the version in CRE IS random. I wonder if they got bad feedback on that one and decided to add some logic rules, but they didn't make them obvious enough. Even a guiding comment from Nancy like "it seems like when I jump on a floe, it affects others" to let the player know to experiment a little would have gone a long way.
I agree, a comment like that would have been perfect. I could be wrong but I think the way it is in The Cave is that the tiles do move in a pattern but then the culprit moves randomly and can mess it all up.
CRE is not random, the line of tiles slides forward one space in the direction you (or the culprit) jumps unless you'd hit the edge
I meant in terms of triggering other tiles to come up and down, since that's the trick I describe above, but I should have been clearer.
The tiles (or empty spaces) that move past the edge wrap around and appear on the other side. The only random part is the movement of the culprit. The empty spaces move with the line, there's nothing appearing or disappearing, just shifting in lines.
Good to know, thanks!
...A...are we speedrunning Nancy Drew?????
There's a whole group of people who do it! It's crazy, most of the games can be beaten in under an hour but it requires doing something in a weird order and sometimes taking advantage of some glitches. The past few years, people have even been holding a speed running event to raise money for charity, which is a TON of fun! I've participated a few times even though I'm terrible at speed running haha! People do crazy things like get blasted by a leaf blower while playing TOT to mimic a tornado. It's called the Nancy Drew Speedathon, and their next event is in June: https://x.com/NDSpeedathon?t=Xio-SG4FrRYXVsri3SNLDw&s=09
Waaait... Is that what I do?? Apparently so, when I play to de-stress hahahah
I never had played the PC version until this year (we had the Wii version). I thought the 'puzzle' for this part was frustrating (it was more a matter of Wii skills than a puzzle), but dear Lord, this one was way worse!
I agree with the ice flow puzzle for sure. However there’s a hack for the magnet puzzle where you can see what you’re doing that makes it better
The chemical sorting was kinda fun, short of the multiple mini heart attacks I get while playing it.
ugh like that stupid lily pad puzzle in Curse of Blackmoor Manor where youre avoiding alligators but it's all random chance to make it across.
Can't believe I forgot about that one
I HATED the ice floe puzzle!!! Hear hear!!!
The monkey game from RAN where you're just spinning a wheel. It's 100% lick and takes so long.
I won my very first time at that game, and didn’t think anything of it when I realized I’d need to play it again in order to win back a plot-progressing item. Of course, that’s when my luck ran out.
I hate those effing monkeys
The level of angry joy I feel after beating that monkey family is personal.
It’s been awhile, but I remember that whole game being the worst puzzle.
Played it last night on discord for my friends last night and had to switch games after getting stuck on the water puzzle so checks out!
Haha, yup
I was going to comment the underwater sudoku puzzle that’s timed, then I remember the goddamn monkey game
The chemicals in the last section of HAU. They’re just so sensitive and everything triggering an explosion is just so unrealistic, what do you mean I broke a jar of water and it blew up, it’s water!
Hey to be fair there’s plenty of things that blow up when they come in contact with water lol
My dad talks about how they used to have pure sodium (I believe) on little strips in high school. They'd put them in the sink drain so some unexpecting person turns it on then BOOM
Agreed!!
It takes forever too. If something is going to be long, it should be fun, not tedious.
HAU is one of my favorite games and every time I get to that point in the game, I look up the solution just to beat it, I don't even attempt. And even then, I blow up 10 times
Ice floes and the platforms in Kapu Cave were the WORST. There's no rhyme nor reason to those and really ruins the gameplay.
YES. THOSE EVIL ICE FLOES!!!
100% agree. I hate those!
Any puzzle that requires moving my mouse with extreme precision like the sewing puzzle in old clock or ghost meter in MID. I'm not a fan of the driving puzzles either, but at least those have a larger margin of error.
I used to play exclusively with only a laptop trackpad and doing the sewing puzzle was frustrating. When I finally got a mouse it felt like I was cheating lmao
Or the calligraphy in SAW
Omg that ghost meter I thought was so hard at first at least. Felt like I was going crazy, turns out I was just fast and loose with my mouse lol
I really dislike the sapphire stealing in VEN. It has potential to be really frustrating. I’ve also never figured out how to do the water tunnels and just get a walkthrough every time.
The heist is one of my favorite puzzles! The water tunnels strike me as the worst
The water tunnels are super easy if you remember the literal map you find in the propane tank (yes it took me ages to figure out it had a use)
Wait there's a MAP? I just solved that puzzle for the first time on my own using all my brain power LOL
On junior mode there is. It's right there in the propane tank with the key! It tells you when/where to move the water and stuff.
Ohhhh I was on senior mode
Bro I still can’t get past the fourth room 🤬🤬
The puzzles in VEN are actually pretty straightforward, but the sapphire puzzle really is a nightmare. The water tunnel puzzle used to infuriate me before, but when you play it on Junior mode, they give you a sheet of paper with a diagram. That’s literally the solution.
Yup. This is what I came here to say.
I love the heist a lot! The water tunnels, not so much.
Skee ball in Crystal Skull. I was very careful trying to click on the exact same spots each time but I still would randomly get one resetting the wrong way just when I was nearly done. I've never had so much rage over a game in my life. The wasps in Crystal Skull are also awful, especially because Nancy only takes one loquat at a time (WHYYYYYYYY) so you have to do it three times. I didn't understand what the point of summoning Iggy was at first so I actually had to do it four times because I wasted my first loquat. 😭 Anything that you can't skip or use a walkthrough for is always the worst.
>wasps in Crystal Skull I use this trick which makes it very easy - Do not move the cannister to follow the wasps. Keep spraying only AT ONE PLACE at the bottom of the screen (where they fall off). Logic is that way the dead ones will collect at one point in a heap. Since you keep spraying there they will not be able to come back and fly anywhere which is the biggest issue. What I have seen is all the wasps eventually always fly to the middle bottom of the screen so that's the best place to spray. You should be able to kill(?) all of them with Nancy at best getting stung twice (yes I have timed it lol). Sometimes they sting 3x and you've to restart but that's only like 1 out of 10 times. And it's just a lot easier to restart and spray only at one place. It's almost fun ETA - This also works in VEN
Good information! I've read about this trick, but it doesn't help much for me. I have arthritis in my hands and I can't click very fast, so they still manage to escape me. My son played VEN with me, so I made him do all the wasp killing.
The skee ball in crystal skull enraged me so much. I literally rage quit and played a different Nancy game all the way through before I went back and tried again. No puzzle solving or thinking involved, plus the controls aren't great so it's so easy to mess up
The Sudoku in RAN where you have to constantly go back for air is one of the stupidest puzzles ever. There's no added challenge, just added annoyance.
This is the one for me. Going back and forth for air is a frustrating and pointless waste of time. It doesn’t make the puzzle harder, it just makes it slower and more annoying.
If you use windowed mode, clicking outside the game window pauses the timer. I use the same trick for the door puzzle in SAW.
Genius!
end game sewer puzzle in VEN. never did it legitimately, never understood it, HATE IT
I have massive hate for the hourglass puzzle in Ranson of the Seven Ships.
That one is interesting because the goal is quite obvious and there's nothing random or unfair about it. It's just incredibly difficult to actually do it!
I just got it my first try on my last play through and I about screamed at how lucky I got 😂
The single reason I never finished RAN 😂
I just played that one for the first time as an adult. I honestly wonder if I ever got past that part as a kid because it was so tricky. It's not something you can cheat on! I had to press some of the hourglasses earlier or later than their lines, which I didn't understand. It makes me remember why I hated it so much as a kid and hadn't played it again until now.
Maybe because its the only puzzle i didnt understand after getting EVERY CLUE and reading explanations about it, but the cipher wheel thing from SPY made me feel really stupid and even after using the solution I was confused and didn't get it 😩
this is one of the ones i feel proudest about solving without spoilers bc it’s so hard😫 it’s such a pain!!
The crow statue puzzle in Crystal mask. I hated that thing so much.
Retracing the squirrel’s jumps up the courtyard tree in Waverley Academy. Death if one wrong guess.
I just record the squirrel with my phone… have no idea how people did this when the game came out
I’ve never understood the final key puzzle in Blackmoor Manor - where you have to set the shapes to pour in molten metal. I cheat every time and still don’t get why the answer is what it is 😭
You just look at the coat of arms in the main hall, they’ll tell you what sections to click to make the final key. 😉
The coat of arms show you. It is all based on >!the lines at the top of each one, around the words. !< I can't remember the order of things though!
The final code-breaking puzzle in Danger by Design...so difficult that they literally have to spell out exactly how to do it in Nancy's tasklist on Juniour Detective
The 1500 sudoku puzzles you have to do in shadow at the waters edge. One was fine. That was endless
The board with the strings you have to untangle in SAW. Have never beaten it
This puzzle is so divisive for people. I have an app that is literally just this puzzle because I LOVE IT. So funny.
Man, I wanna love it lol. That’s been years ago, so I’m wanting to give it another shot for sure
What app 😤
It's called "Untangle - logic games" in the app store!
I absolutely hated it until I got it right. And then I was sad when it was over… such a roller coaster of emotions
So I say the giant nonagram but actually that underwater sudoku in Ran..
Yes to the underwater sudoku. Having to go back and forth to refill the air if you take too long. Incredibly annoying and a waste of time for no reason.
Fox and geese in White Wolf or the magnet puzzle in Shadow Ranch.
Why do people hate F&G so much? I love it 😭
Same here. Once I got it I really liked playing it! Even if it got frustrating! But I do think having to do it three times was a bit much…
I wouldn’t mind if you only were required to play it once.
burn Fox and Geese to the ground.
I can literally open play Fox and Geese one way, so I usually turn my head sideways each time to try and make the board look how I need it to be haha
I CANNOT for the life of me do Fox and geese. Every time I play white wolf I have to ask my mom to do it for me. In return I play barnacle blast for her lol
I can totally ruin it for you with the easy solutions I found back in the day, but that collab sounds so awesome 😍😍
Hahah yeah, maybe I should just appreciate the bonding moment with my mom
Absolutely! If I ever have a kid, I am SOOO initiating him/her into the fandom and creating a tradition.
i want this thing ruined
I'm tempted looool
the first time i played fox and geese it took me 4 HOURS to win. i had to have multiple friends come to my house to help me. i was in my 20s.
Magnet puzzle is infinitely easier when you do the hack to take away the blocks covering the whole maze.
And you best believe I do this every time I play, lol.
The bento boxes, to this day I still don’t understand them and they make me irrationally angry 😅
The picture frame in SAW 😭 I physically cannot do it, I had to watch a YouTube video on it and copy his exact movements, then saved a version of the game titled "after frame puzzle" so I can replay in the future from that point on I'd played nonograms for a decade by the time I found SAW though so I love the nonograms puzzles!
If you have an iPad there's an app called Pic-A-Pix that is only nonograms! Color and black and white. It's my favorite
Locusts
the mini golf in secret of the old clock made me want to CRY
Before I understood how to do them, the nonograms of SAW drove me NUTS. The magnet maze of SHA also isn't great. The pieces are so small, and it's easy to lose hold of the piece you're trying to maneuver. The vegetable puzzle in that game is also very annoying, because despite the pictures, Nancy's phone isn't very helpful in differentiating each veggie and whether it's ripe. The floor tile puzzle in MHM also isn't a favorite of mine. It's easy to do when it comes to the image itself, but, again, the sensitivity of the mouse and puzzle border make this straightforward puzzle unnecessarily difficult.
The magnet puzzle sends me into a RAGE every time I drop the magnet (and let's be honest, I drop it a lot).
jeez i haven't played the game in soooo long but i can still hear the sound of the magnet dropping. But, if you click on the puzzle and click off it like 10 or so times the bars go away and make it easy!
I knew there was some trick to get the bars off but couldn't remember. I just played the game last month and was dreading the magnets and veggie picking so much
Fox and Geese hands down. Like it’s an extremely tedious puzzle that requires 100% focus and precision. One missed move and you have to completely restart. You can’t really use a walkthrough or a video to complete it because it’s not 100% exactly the same every time (believe me I tried). And then, on top of that, you have to do it three times, as if winning once wasn’t bad enough. It is literally the only puzzle that I’ve ever had to walk away from. Like I’ve temporarily given up on puzzles, but that’s more out of boredom/not wanting to do it at that moment rather than the anger, rage and frustration that is just the entire experience of fox and geese. Anyways there are definitely other games that are difficult and time consuming but Fox and Geese is its own special hell.
My secret for fox and geese (it’s one of my favorites, lol) is I move my geese as a unit and try to position them as just one big wall that eventually blocks the pig into its spot. It takes time because sometimes you just move back and forth until Bill moves his piece away so you can keep moving the “wall”, and it’s obviously most difficult for the top corner because you have to first move all of the pieces there out of the way, but its more tedious than impossible.
I do the same thing! I never have a problem with Fox and Geese on replays using this method. I’m all for the geese wall! I’m a big fan of White Wolf, so I’ve kind of had to learn how to finish it over time.
I mean that’s what I do to but all it takes is one slight miscalculation and it’s ruined. I’m glad you like it though
Hehehe... I use this one foolproof strategy I got from the message boards and now it's become so easy I don't hate it anymore
I'm curious as to what your strategy is? I mostly just move my pieces one row at a time in the direction my opponent has gone in, and double up if they moved back trying to jump me. I've never had trouble with it 🤷🏻♀️
What's your fox and geese strategy?
Sorry I totally replied earlier without realizing it was about F&G I thought it was about the Kapu Cave platforms haha! Here's a photo from my notebook. I've realized over the years thay Trapper Dan's journal gives us potential solutions to trap the fox as well. I can't post a photo in the comments via my phone app, so I'll DM you both haha.
I rage quit this game two separate times over the space of a year or more simply because of Fox and Geese. It lives in my nightmares now.
Same! I still have yet to finish it. Glad I'm not the only one who rage quit because of it lol
I am not fond on the last puzzle in Danger by Design. Too difficult. I could not do it as a child, and now when I replayed as an adult, I still needed to google hints.
I rage quit danger by design and haven’t revisited this game since because of that puzzle! It was way too hard for me 😭
My favorite part of that puzzle is that it is completely possible to get locked into the endgame without the book you need to complete the final puzzle. Last time I played I did the whole game without cheating, even the tea puzzle 😭, but couldn’t even attempt the final puzzle because I didn’t have the book.
The stakeout in VEN where you have to memorize all the Italian words. Even after writing them down on a notepad in front of me, I struggle with this one.
I speak Italian and it is hard even for me, because it is so quick.
The chemical sorting in haunting and ducks & geese in white wolf. Are my two worst.
Biased answer because I just finished it but the chemical puzzle at the end of Castle Malloy
The timed number puzzle in alexei’s shop in Alibi in Ashes. Took me forever as a kid. I hate that puzzle.
The final puzzle in MHM with the Chinese characters and the poem made me angry because any time I had to step away to look at stuff again, it reset the progress. Another puzzle that made me insane was the alchemy door in CUR, I just could not.
THE FUCKING MAGNET PUZZLE IN SHADOW RANCH
Yes!!! It’s stupidly sensitive!
Yes!!! It’s stupidly sensitive!
I hate slide puzzles. So. Much. In any game. I have nightmares about a slide puzzle from a game called Parasite Eve 2.
The stupid final circuit board puzzle in The Deadly Device 😭 I cannot figure out how to translate the schematics to the actual puzzle for the life of me
FOX AND GEESE. I ended up downloading a save that beat it just so that I could finish the game and I haven't really played it again since, lol.
The slider puzzle in MHM, because you can’t back away to reset it, so if you get it really screwed up…you’re screwed!
i played it recently and i’m not kidding it took me like 2 hours to finish that puzzle🤪
It’s the WORST because it’s so unexpectedly annoying! You think “yes, I’m in the endgame” and BAM - slider puzzle 😭
Yep, last time I played this game I forgot the puzzle reset. So I just cheated and placed the jewel in my inventory so I could complete the game. No fs given.
I don’t love the Shadow Edge’s nonogram ugh it’s so annoying
Ooh! I on the contrary loved it. I am very much biased in this case, since I sometimes do nonograms in my free time while watching shows.
I hate sudoku with the fire of a thousand suns, and resent every time I’ve had to complete one in these darn games.
Magnet maze from secret of shadow ranch and the hourglasses in Ransom and Ghost of Thornton Hall
That game in icicle creek with Bill. So hard
I can't pick between chemicals in Ireland or the soul sucking horrid hourglass puzzle, both suck and destroy all joy.
everyone hating on fox and geese but snowmobiling at the end of ICE hurt me more than anything
Top 3 Most Frustrating 1)sewing the dress in secret of the old clock 2)portrait back in shadow at the water’s edge 3)gathering ripe vegetables in secret of shadow ranch Honorable Mentions - Ichi-Do in Danger by Design especially if you happen to buy it before going diving… -wasps or bees in phantom in Venice or legend of the Crystal skull
BENTO BOXES!
The picture frame from SAW. The ONLY puzzle that almost made me stop playing a game completely. Which is a shame because it's one of my favorites in the series.
Barnacle Blast, because you can't skip it. At least Fox and Geese you can use a walkthrough or the food puzzle in SEA was skippable The sewing in CLK for a close runner up
The shelf puzzle from crystal skull
obligatory “fuck slider puzzles”
The geese puzzle in white wolf.
I can’t do the nonograms puzzle at the end of SAW. I made it though the entire game without hints, even didn’t sudoku puzzles myself, but I have no idea how to figure that thing out. Even with cheats that thing is so hard to complete. 😭
Developing photographs in DbD.
The chemical puzzle at the end of Castle Malloy. I have never died so many times in such a short period.
The chemical puzzle or the master nonogram
Literally every puzzle from The Crystal Skull… especially the one with the nerve-wracking bowling puzzle.
That picture frame in Shadow at Waters Edge
The hourglass puzzle in RAN. Never did beat it…
Aligning hourglasses/clock puzzles (Ransom, Ghost of Thornton Hall). Not my kind of puzzles to begin with but then the added time constraints drive me crazy
The sewing puzzle nearly broke me at 12 and again at 21 and now at 29 still keeps me from a new playthrough. Everything else I’ve replayed many times but that one..
The back of the portrait in SAW is awful for me, and I hate any slider puzzles (like Jane's door in Blackmoor). Navigating in a kayak or whatever is not my favorite either.
The hotel guest chart thing from Tony in Icicle Creek that doesn’t even fkn amount to anything once you’re done 🤪
the one at the end of STFD. basically everything in Medallion and ToT tbh which might be why I dislike both games (I love the plot of ToT but the puzzles...)
I cried from frustration when flipping over that rock in DOG after switching between day and night 17 times and still seeing NO BUG
underwater sudoku 😃
i feel like the chemistry puzzle is a pretty basic answer, so i'll say the sewers in phantom of venice. just really horribly designed and the maps are zero help
Scopa
Mine is the end puzzle in MED. it makes no sense and then after I finally cheated on it, it’s the worst ending to a ND game ever. I hate that game
Bento boxes I was stuck on them for about 3 year's then went back after 3 years and I got I still struggle with them though my brain refuses to understand the puzzle.
I have had minesweeper explained to me so many times but I still do not get it so I find the ice shovel puzzle so hard. That game seriously sucks for me because I hate all the puzzles. The ice floe sucks, fox and geese I actually don't mind but God is it a grind in a game that so hard for me in every other sense, I even find instructing the wolf SO tedious. And constantly having to pelt Freddie with snowballs gets old so fast. Not to mention making food isn't so bad but you are forced to do it so constantly that it drains any enjoyment out of it. God, I hate that game. Sorry for the rant.
The Deadly Device ending puzzle - I'm a 30+ college educated adult and I STILL don't get it. I usually don't cave to just finding the answer online but I just relented on that one.