YOUR OPINION: Enemies or Puzzles?

[Samurai]

1. Wouldst thou prefer challenging monsters, or wouldst thou prefer challenging puzzles? 2. What kind of monsters, or what kind of puzzles? If thou desires, state reasons for thy decision.

[Mallos31]

A good game has balance. Monsters that get more difficult as you progress, and puzzles that do the same. I can't really say what KIND of puzzles, because I'm not good at making them, only solving them. 

[sairugoth]

Well, I actually like monsters in my puzzles. More like a, I'm doing a puzzle and randomly, monsters start attacking in fleets kinda thing. So you get best of both, making it a real challenge.But if I had to choose I'd say puzzles, it just feels more challenging then a monster. 

[giadrosich]

From what I've seen of my husband playing Tomb Raider, that game has a nice balance of hard puzzles and challenging enemies, but doesn't go overboard.

 

Tomb Raider 2013 shows what happens when you put too much combat and too little puzzles.

 

For Zelda, I'd rather have more puzzles than enemies in every room.

[Samurai]

Hmm... Interesting. I love good combat, but must remember not everyone loves it as much as I do. Besides, constant intense combat makes actual combat feel less intense. 

 

I might also decide to raise the health of enemies as well; you can know what it's like to be attacked by the freakin' Juggernaut while figuring out which switch to switch.

[JamesAndrewHarris]

I prefer puzzles. Because I like the feeling of completing a puzzle, especially if it's moderately difficult.

 

Like the rescue of Kafei's mask in Majora's Mask. Or the temple puzzles, I had so much trouble with the puzzles in the water temple. But the hardship is worth it for how great it makes you feel for solving it.

[Jotokun]

Definitely puzzles. Mainly because its very difficult to have a monster that is genuinely hard aside from bumping up the health/damage. To me, difficulty must be dictated by skill and not persistance. For the same reason, I'd consider a puzzle on a short timer to be a bad puzzle.

 

The best puzzles are simple ones that are very easy to overcomplicate. A good example is in the third dungeon of Link's Awakening, where to open a locked door you have to throw a pot at it. Such a thing wouldn't occurs to most players, but they'd end up doing that eventually out of sheer frustration. 

 

Genuinely difficult ones are also good. Again from LA, there was one where you had to kill the monsters in a certain room in the right order, or a key wouldn't appear. Perhaps have a puzzle where you specifically must kill monsters in a certain way, or have to use your items in somewhat unorthodox ways (ex. melting a block of ice by hookshottting yourself through a flame, before you have access to a bow. As you pass over the block, your burning body would melt it.). 

 

Basically, think outside the box. Dont go for puzzles with obvious solutions. 

[giadrosich]

 For the same reason, I'd consider a puzzle on a short timer to be a bad puzzle.

*cough* oops

[Your Local Cultist]

I like color based puzzles, or shoot'em up with guns or bows depending what the game is.

[wareya]

Remember when every OoT hack was "fill five rooms in the debug dungeon with the hardest mixes of enemies you can think of"?

 

I do.

[Conker]

Give me both, I say. Both at once.

[giadrosich]

Remember when every OoT hack was "fill five rooms in the debug dungeon with the hardest mixes of enemies you can think of"?

 

I do.

When I first did research on other hacks, that's ALL I found on youtube. It was amazing. This is why I vowed to never do that in my hack.

[Samurai]

Give me both, I say. Both at once.

 

 

[ZDSKRF]

Really depends on the game for me. If it's a game that has a particularly good combat system, I'd say enemies. If the game is geared towards thinking deeply about the game (a complex story or something), then puzzles would fit that sort of game a lot better.

[wareya]

So does that mean that Zelda 64 mods are out of luck for either?

[Mellow]

Personally, I would prefer more puzzles than monsters. Sure, monsters and fighting is cool and all, but the satisfaction of solving a difficult is so much greater.

 

But in terms of the theme of your mod, I would say to try to strike a balance between the two, since your mod seems to be very combar oriented.

[BxR]

I really think that this is completely reliant on what the game actually is.  If you've played any God of War game you'd clearly understand why you'd much rather face another boss monster than a challenging puzzle; the combat is simply superior in every way over the puzzle system in that game.  If I'm playing Donkey Kong though, I'd much prefer puzzles and other complications than a mediocre combat system.  If we're specifically talking about Zelda here than I believe puzzles are better;  I've always prefered doing a puzzle in Zelda over combat - let's be honest the combat system is far from perfect.

[mzxrules]

The thing is, a good game like Megaman 9 with smart enemy design/placement is in itself a puzzle of "How do I pass the level without getting ripped to shreds".

[HeavyZ]

I don't necassarily want really hard puzzles, though I don't want easy ones. As long as the combat system is nice, the enemy's are challenging, and I have to work to get to where I'm getting. That would be good enough for me. Shadow of the Collosus had was nothing but boss fights, and yet it was a puzzle solving game because it was not so much about combat, but about finding a way to slay each giant beast.

[petrie911]

Puzzles all the way. I've been trying to add some decent combat to my hack to mix things up, but puzzles are my thing. Especially block puzzles. Seriously, they're like the best thing ever.

[DarthDub]

A balance of both I would say.