The Legend of Skye

[Carles]

Well, the truth is that I don't agree too much with what you say. Maybe some puzzles needed a little more clues or guides for the player, but I still think that the vast majority have logic (within a comedy) and are well justified. It is true that it is a classic adventure and not suitable for beginners, focused on solving puzzles. If you are looking for something else, this is not the game for you.

Many adventures have only puzzles using inventory items in the hotspots. In contrast, The Legend of Skye has a huge variety of different puzzles: matching inventory items, time puzzles, mazes, etc. Anyone looking for a classic adventure game with challenging puzzles will like it. But don't expect a hint book or anything like that. It's a game for anyone who wants to get their head spinning and get a little stuck from time to time.

[Durq]

Here are related comments from Steam and elsewhere:

"Sometimes I would have appreciated more feedback from the protagonist because sometimes it's not clear why some actions don't work (I don't want to spoil, but it concerns a little boat)."

"But the puzzle design is very bad puzzles are too obscure, and the game system lacks hints. If you don't do exactly what the game expects you to do you just get generic answers from the environment. Then all the fun fades out because it just gets to the point of you trying every item with every other item or environment object to find the solution."

"lacks guidance and feedback, making it more frustrating than it needs to be."

"Lazy English translation, unbalanced puzzles, no voice actors. So much of it was right and I tried to enjoy it, but the nonsense puzzle solutions were what ruined it for me"

"Actually I would be very surprised if most people managed to beat it without hints."

"There isn't enough feedback when trying different interactions. For instance, when I try to grab the paper boat from the canal, the protagonist says, 'Can't reach it with my hands.' Huh? It looks like she could just reach over the canal wall and grab the boat, but whatever. So I try to snag the boat with the long poker and spatula, but the protagonist just responds with the generic 'That won't do any good' response. Not okay."

"The puzzles are sometimes quite obscure and the game does not really help you either: Often you get generic answers and no hints on how to progress. I felt reminded on Discworld's 'That does not work'."

"I got very frustrated and didn't know how to move on"

"Some difficult puzzles I needed to use the walkthrough for"

"The dialogs are full of typos and incorrect English (the German translation is also done poorly). Many of the puzzles feel random and there are too few hints that nudge you in the right direction"

"the dialogue for some of the characters does not use phrasing that you would expect from someone in that position. I have already encountered typos as well, so that makes me a little worried for the rest of the game"

"The lack of sufficient signposting at times will make many gamers glad that The Legend of Skye comes with a complete walkthrough"

"as well as inventory puzzles that are sure to remind players of the old adage to try everything on everything, since solutions aren't always so easy to come by."

"Other puzzles can be quite daunting at times, too, since it's often unclear what you're supposed to do. You'll wander around collecting a bunch of inventory items quite easily, but without a clear idea of where to use them exactly. Indeed, The Legend of Skye's signposting leaves something to be desired."

"it also can border on frustration, with many puzzles that are a bit too layered for their own good. If only Skye would comment on what you were trying to do – not giving solutions away, of course, but perhaps just pointing you in the right direction."

"Cons: Lack of signposting may make the walkthrough almost a necessity at times"

"The Legend of Skye ignores 30 years of quality-of-life improvements."

"Imagine my frustration when one puzzle directed me to send a paper boat downstream and recover it before it reached a certain point. Easy enough! Except, no, the game wants me to put a coin in the boat and fish it out with a magnet attached to a fishing rod, with zero dialogue to nudge me in that direction or reason why Skye couldn't just grab the boat or use her reach-extending poker to redirect it, as she'd already done several times already."

"Without resorting to a walkthrough, you'll wander from place to place mashing items together without ever really knowing why. I'm well aware that most players approach these games knowing that puzzles are everywhere, using anything they find on everything they see accordingly, but it feels like the puzzles were designed with that in mind, with solutions like those above making no sense or not being alluded to by the characters."

"a game that has some of the most bizarre puzzles I've ever experienced"

"a lack of signposting"

[Carles]

Thank you for providing me with a compilation of negative comments that are all over the web, your effort is greatly appreciated. You've made a very good selection, as 94% of the reviews on Steam are positive.

I can make you a list with extremely positive comments about the puzzles and the game in general. As well as specialized magazines that have given it high marks. Not to mention that it was nominated for best puzzles at the AGOTY Awards.

But I'm not going to waste my time doing this.

[heltenjon]

I've now finished the game. I spent far more time on the city part than the later parts. While there were times I walked around and didn't know what I was supposed to do next, later on I felt this was more streamlined.

My end verdict is still that I liked the game, and I also like the character Skye better now. I liked that in act two,

Spoiler

the characters and locations changed a bit, like the naked druid started selling energy drinks, and people appearing on top of the summit.

[close]

And I liked that some areas were closed off as finished/unavailable, as it saved me from needless walking (and the dev from needless coding).

A bit about signposting, in spoiler tags:

Spoiler

I read the other spoilers in this thread now, and I see that you only recently added the description in the enchanted forest. For me, I think this would have been almost impossible without that comment. With it, it wasn't hard. But the moss is so hard to spot in some of the pics that I doubt I would have picked up on it without the description hint.

The longest I walked around cluelessly, was when I needed to dress up like a sentinel. I thought I would need the bucket as a helmet to battle the witch, and so I tried a lot of other actions to get the witchslayer sword, including trying to alert the sentinels, trying to switch it when the shopkeeper was in the safe, pushing him into the safe, sabotaging his comic book and so on. At this time I also tried to solve the puzzles I couldn't do yet, like getting the card from the baker and more. While the city offers a pretty open world, the story needs to be quite linear.

[close]

In the later acts, I thought the signposting worked pretty well, and I always knew what my end goals were.

I often found myself solving a puzzle before I was supposed to, though. Like with the witch,

Spoiler

I had found her grimoire long before she had told me to look for it,

[close]

or with the gnome

Spoiler

who wanted a gem or crystals, when I already had tried to use that crystal everywhere else in the game. That one was due to a pixel hunt - I missed a hidden hotspot on the mountainside.

[close]

This also made a small continuity error,

Spoiler

because Skye knew that the beast only ate toads while in the front end of the cave (trying to feed him meat), before she learned it from the gnome on the top of the mountain.

[close]

Such details pop up from time to time, and of course it's not gamebreaking in any way, but it is noticable. If I give a bogus name, I will assume that the character will address me like that for the rest of the game, unless I tell him my true name. (The druid with the hat does this exactly right!)

One possible improvement would be to try to give responses to more solutions that players are likely to try. Why does one item work and another not? When trying to get the chocolate bun,

Spoiler

I actually went straight for the fishing rod, but in real life, if that didn't work, I'd build something that would block and stop the bun from sailing on. If I was worried about sharp rocks, I'd try to move them.

[close]

I know this is hard to do, but as a player, it is very rewarding when I'm told why my idea didn't work.

While I enjoyed the game, I think the criticism about signposting is fair. I would rather be stuck on a hard puzzle than walking around a large map and not being sure what to do next. And I am a puzzle lover, so I had no problem with the odd logic in some puzzles. I mean, I wrote about a magnetic rat in a puzzle creation contest, so I feel at home with some of the gag puzzles in a way that perhaps not all do. Monkey Island had a couple of signpost misses, too, so don't feel bad about it.

[Carles]

Yes, I agree that at some points in the game it would have been nice to have a few more signposts, to prevent the player from getting lost and to give him a clear objective.

Regarding what you say about the game's acts, I think the second one (the one in the city) is the most complete, non-linear, and the one with the most interesting puzzles, although it is also the most difficult. The rest of the game is more linear, and that simplifies puzzle solving for the player.

You are also right that sometimes you can solve a puzzle before you know you had to do it. It is difficult to avoid this in very open games with different lines of simultaneous puzzles. In the game I am developing now, I am avoiding it.

It is also true that it lacks more specific answers to the actions that Skye does with inventory objects, instead of generic ones appearing. The game really has many specific answers, but being so big, with so many inventory objects and so many possible combinations, many of them were not taken into account.

Regarding the sentinel puzzle that you struggled with,

Spoiler

I must say that the game gives some clues. Bard tells you repeatedly in a conversation that he is afraid that a guard will come into his tent and catch him with the mushrooms. 

[close]

Thanks for your post and I'm glad you liked it. 

[heltenjon]

Regarding the sentinel puzzle that you struggled with,

Spoiler

Spoiler

I must say that the game gives some clues. Bard tells you repeatedly in a conversation that he is afraid that a guard will come into his tent and catch him with the mushrooms.

[close]

[close]

Thanks for your post and I'm glad you liked it.

Oh, I liked it. Regard this as (hopefully) constructive feedback. The sentinel puzzle:

Spoiler

I did pick up on the clues - I did try to alert the sentinels. What I didn't do, was to connect the helmet shape with the sentinels - I was sure I was going to need full armor against the witch, so I put it aside as something I didn't need yet. I'm much better with textual clues than visual ones.

[close]

One thing that I was sure was going to happen, but didn't:

Spoiler

There was no puzzle where I had to find replacements for missing bits of all the garden gnomes.

[close]

It is also true that it lacks more specific answers to the actions that Skye does with inventory objects, instead of generic ones appearing. The game really has many specific answers, but being so big, with so many inventory objects and so many possible combinations, many of them were not taken into account.

What happens, is that when a game is inspired by a well known game (MI in this case), the player will draw comparisons, and it's hard for an indie dev to live up to the legacy of a whole team making a smash hit. It's not exactly fair, but there it is.

I'm on board for the next game.

[Carles]

What happens, is that when a game is inspired by a well known game (MI in this case), the player will draw comparisons, and it's hard for an indie dev to live up to the legacy of a whole team making a smash hit. It's not exactly fair, but there it is.

Totally true.

I'm on board for the next game.

Thank you very much. 

[croquetasesina]

I enjoyed the game like a little boy. It certainly managed to capture my attention, not only the graphics, which are in the style I personally like, but the puzzle design and the story. I look forward to seeing more developments on your future games. I'm sure they will be great successes like this one.

My sincere congratulations, it's a game worth playing, without any doubt.

[Carles]

I enjoyed the game like a little boy. It certainly managed to capture my attention, not only the graphics, which are in the style I personally like, but the puzzle design and the story. I look forward to seeing more developments on your future games. I'm sure they will be great successes like this one.

My sincere congratulations, it's a game worth playing, without any doubt.

Thanks croquetasesina! I don't even need to say anything about The Adventures of The Black Hawk, it was a great coincidence that two games inspired by the classics came out in the same year. We should make a game together sometime. 

[croquetasesina]

Thanks croquetasesina! I don't even need to say anything about The Adventures of The Black Hawk, it was a great coincidence that two games inspired by the classics came out in the same year. We should make a game together sometime. 

I'm sure it would be a great experience!

[Gary Gallo]

I absolutely loved the naked druid! His lines are pure gold—I lost it laughing more than once during his dialogues. He brings so much charm to the game and really gives it that unique vibe you don't see often in modern adventure games. His reactions and witty comebacks are just next-level comedy! Which character surprised you the most? Anyone else stand out with the same kind of bold and unforgettable personality?