Puzzles with no wrong answers?

[ThisAdamGuy]

Today I decided to give a game called Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments a try. I really like detective games, but the only ones I've found in recent memory that do it well are the Ace Attorney games.

What surprised me here was when I made it to the end of the first case, and the game gave me three choices for who to pin the murder on. At first I assumed that one of those choices was correct and the others were wrong, and when the choice I selected led to a cutscene wrapping up the whole case, I assumed that I'd picked the right option. But then it gave me the choice to go back and choose a different ending. It turns out, it doesn't matter what option you pick because you'll get a different ending where you've made the right choice no matter what.

Does this feel wrong to anyone else? I mean, a mystery is basically a puzzle, and the point of doing a puzzle is to solve it. Maybe I'm just a stick in the mud, but there's no fun in "solving" a puzzle with no wrong answers. What do you guys think?

 

[Nahrenne]

Today I decided to give a game called Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments a try. I really like detective games, but the only ones I've found in recent memory that do it well are the Ace Attorney games.

What surprised me here was when I made it to the end of the first case, and the game gave me three choices for who to pin the murder on. At first I assumed that one of those choices was correct and the others were wrong, and when the choice I selected led to a cutscene wrapping up the whole case, I assumed that I'd picked the right option. But then it gave me the choice to go back and choose a different ending. It turns out, it doesn't matter what option you pick because you'll get a different ending where you've made the right choice no matter what.

Does this feel wrong to anyone else? I mean, a mystery is basically a puzzle, and the point of doing a puzzle is to solve it. Maybe I'm just a stick in the mud, but there's no fun in "solving" a puzzle with no wrong answers. What do you guys think?

Did each ending feel like it resolved the case?
Or did some feel like something was off about it?

As for detective games, I haven't really played any so I can't say if this is normal or not...

It does feel a bit anti-climactic, though.

As for puzzle games in general with multiple endings, have you tried [The Nonary Games]?
More of a death puzzle type of game than a detective one, though.

X

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

did some feel like something was off about it?

I picked the only one that felt like it made sense. I was trying to find the guy who had thrown a gigantic harpoon hard enough to pin his victim to the wall, and the options were a scrawny kid, the victim's gardner, and a professional whaler who has been trying to blackmail the victim. But even if the other options felt wrong, it doesn't mean much if the game will bend over backwards to make sure you're right no matter who you pick.

 

[Nahrenne]

I picked the only one that felt like it made sense. I was trying to find the guy who had thrown a gigantic harpoon hard enough to pin his victim to the wall, and the options were a scrawny kid, the victim's gardner, and a professional whaler who has been trying to blackmail the victim. But even if the other options felt wrong, it doesn't mean much if the game will bend over backwards to make sure you're right no matter who you pick.

'-'
I feel for you.
Did any reviews for the game mention this?


X

 

[ACertainPassingUser]

Today I decided to give a game called Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments a try. I really like detective games, but the only ones I've found in recent memory that do it well are the Ace Attorney games.

What surprised me here was when I made it to the end of the first case, and the game gave me three choices for who to pin the murder on. At first I assumed that one of those choices was correct and the others were wrong, and when the choice I selected led to a cutscene wrapping up the whole case, I assumed that I'd picked the right option. But then it gave me the choice to go back and choose a different ending. It turns out, it doesn't matter what option you pick because you'll get a different ending where you've made the right choice no matter what.

Does this feel wrong to anyone else? I mean, a mystery is basically a puzzle, and the point of doing a puzzle is to solve it. Maybe I'm just a stick in the mud, but there's no fun in "solving" a puzzle with no wrong answers. What do you guys think?

Gamers like winning

That's what the game developers learns about their playerbase back in the 80s-90s.

They make more money when the game are "easy", because majority want winning yet majority can't win with how difficult those games are.

And then developer start searching how easy they can make those games until they lose profit ?

It turns out, you can make it baby easy, and it will not lose money, if the other aspects were acceptable.

As long there's interaction here and there, player dont mind playing a brain dead easy game that mostly require just press "W".

Especialy with the advent of movie story games. They're just selling movie inside game market because they cannot compete in the movie market.

 

[Echimera]

Did some quick searches and apparently there are multiple endings per case, but only one of them is correct.

And something about ink color being green when you got the correct ending and red when you accused someone innocent (apparently with the back/return button on the controller).