Most obscure puzzle in a text adventure

[SteveSmith]

The only text adventure I played for any length of time was The Hobbit, but I'm curious what the most obscure and (basically) almost-impossible-to-solve puzzles were in a text adventure that anyone came across?

[TMD2003]

The one that absolutely crippled my progress was in The Atlas Assignment. After discovering emulation I'd managed to crudely hack a snapshot of the game to see what text was in it (it was in BASIC but had a crude listing protection that I didn't know how to get shot of), and found I had to fly the microjet in the first phase to Quimper - not somewhere I'd ever have thought of. The only clue was a piece of notepaper that said "48LA4LO". It was only after signing up to WOS in 2003 that I asked about this, and the quick reply was "latitude and longitude"...

There was an even more devious puzzle later on, which to this day I have never managed to solve, despite making the RZX of the game. I still have no idea how to obtain the combination to the safe at the end - I was using a solution from CASA that gave no explanation for it, just what the combination was. So how did I get through it? Dr. Hildegarde Lanstrom would approve, even if she is quite, quite mad.

I suppose there's also the existential crisis caused by Fantasia Diamond. How is it that I can't lift a manhole cover but a small, plastic toy robot powered by a single battery can?

[R-Tape]

I say more about it here, but Beneath Folly must be as about as insanely difficult as it gets. I'd like to know how many people completed it without cheating...

Spoiler

THROW NOTHING

[SteveSmith]

I say more about it here, but Beneath Folly must be as about as insanely difficult as it gets. I'd like to know how many people completed it without cheating...

How (in context) did that command work to solve the problem? Was it the action of moving your hands?

[stupidget]

As a family we had a Dragon 32 before we had a Speccy. One of the games we had was called Mansion Adventure where you had to break into a house and steal a diamond, it really was an excellent adventure with roughly 20 rooms and some simple but enjoyable puzzles. However the first screen was an absolute swine to get past. After hours and hours and hours of trying, my parents finally sussed it out at something like 2am!! To open the front door you had to 'pry door'

[R-Tape]

How (in context) did that command work to solve the problem? Was it the action of moving your hands?

Nope. All I can say is give it 5 mins play, then look at the solution. It's got to be seen to be believed!

[Oloturia]

In "Il tesoro di Malpetra" you land on a soft terrain, beneath a tree. A previous riddle stated that "the truth is between the roots" so I knew that I needed to dig. But whatsoever I tried I failed. I used the staff, the sword, the armour (maybe the helmet?), the chair, the painting, even the broken compass. Nothing seemed feasible for digging.

Then years passed, emulators were created, and I looked at the memory dump. The solution was:
Dig.
Just dig, with your bare hands.

:\

[Morkin]

Not games I've played myself, but a couple of nominees for the 'obscure vocab award':

Claws of Despair - in the inn:

Spoiler

SING IALS

Demon Knight

Spoiler

SACRIFICE COW (there's no altar there)

Puzzle-wise - I found The Boggit pretty entertaining to play, but one of the first obstacles is getting past the trolls. Anyone who knows the original book/game knows what kills them - but I never got the solution of:

Spoiler

SAY LUX

...The clue being one of the many brief passing events in the game that can easily be missed:

A theologist appeared, and, opening his mouth, he spake thu:
"Verily, the word of light measurement and soap flakes is relevant, not only to traffic lights, but unto thine quest also. Think on this as thou venturest into the Troleslaws!"

[Jbizzel]

I'm curious what the most obscure and (basically) almost-impossible-to-solve puzzles were in a text adventure that anyone came across?

All of them. They're all rock hard.

What's that gak one where you basically start as an embryo inside an unhatched egg, and you have to hatch somehow to start the game?

[8BitAG]

What's that gak one where you basically start as an embryo inside an unhatched egg, and you have to hatch somehow to start the game?

Book of the Dead. (BREAK EGG)

You guys just need to "git gud".

[Morkin]

"DEVELOP BEAK"

[Oloturia]

Automata's Pimania begins with a rather obscure:
A KEY TURNS THE LOCK

Spoiler

You have to write "PI", but not "P" and "I", but PI symbol made with extended+M.

[Turtle_Quality]

I vaguely remember a text adventure where, faced with a chasm / ravine to cross, the answer was "Flap arms"

[71owl]

Great thread this!

I think there is a big difference between obscure and a puzzle that is just very clever.

For instance in Espionage Island there is a 'Stitched' swamp where the solution is to go South, East, West, North ie. SEWN (gettit?). You might describe that as obscure but I like to think it's quite a subtle and clever puzzle. As a 12 year old though in 1984 though I don't think I was ever going to solve it!

In the excellent Mordon's Quest by Melbourne House there is a part where you have to 'Say Frog' to get past a certain character. Apparently the map of the locations up to the point had the (very vague) outline or shape of a frog. I'd say that was obscure!!

[Mpk]

Obscure clues and verb-guessing frustration was the inspiration for my cgc entry last year, which I feel had outrageously specific commands, but presented such that anyone can complete it easily.

Play it now!
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/3 ... m_The_Past

All the best jokes are from examining things anyway.

[SteveSmith]

I always remember in a review of a text adventure in SU, they said something like "thankfully the puzzles make sense and you don't need to put the magic frog inside the tupperware dish to open the locked door". I was wondering if there genuinely were any text adventures where you had to do something effectively random in order to proceed.

[EdToo]

Obscure clues and verb-guessing frustration was the inspiration for my cgc entry last year, which I feel had outrageously specific commands, but presented such that anyone can complete it easily.

Play it now!
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/3 ... m_The_Past

All the best jokes are from examining things anyway.

[WhatHoSnorkers]

Obscure clues and verb-guessing frustration was the inspiration for my cgc entry last year, which I feel had outrageously specific commands, but presented such that anyone can complete it easily.

Play it now!
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/3 ... m_The_Past

All the best jokes are from examining things anyway.

This was a delight!

[Jbizzel]

Obscure clues and verb-guessing frustration was the inspiration for my cgc entry last year, which I feel had outrageously specific commands, but presented such that anyone can complete it easily.

Play it now!
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/3 ... m_The_Past

All the best jokes are from examining things anyway.

I absolutely loved this game.

[Alessandro]

In my experience, I met many convoluted (to say the least) puzzles. This was one of the worst:

https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/for ... 848#p66848

[SteveSmith]

In my experience, I met many convoluted (to say the least) puzzles. This was one of the worst:

https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/for ... 848#p66848

Presumably they didn't grow in realtime?!

I notice that the comment immediately after yours in that thread says "There needs to be an "most obscure puzzles in Speccy adventures" thread..."

[Vampyre]

The Eye of Bain's first location could be a proper puzzler as you literally can't move until you do something else first.

Rigel's Revenge first location I was stuck on for ages until I read the text on the loading screen!

Not a text adventure and not even a Speccy game but that ****ing goat in the first Broken Sword.

[bluespikey]

Not a text adventure and not even a Speccy game but that ****ing goat in the first Broken Sword.

The Goat Puzzle even got its own wikipedia page.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goat_Puzzle

As for the Spectrum, The Hobbit rules them all.

"Throw rope across river". Why? Are you holding onto it?
"Say to Bard 'Shoot Dragon'". Why? Yes, its in the book, but its not mentioned in the game that Bard has an arrow.
"Say to Thorin 'Carry me west'". Give me a legup maybe, but being carried through the tall window?!

[Hank Scorpio]

The Hulk, right at the start you have to "BITE LIP" to escape the chair.

[8BitAG]

The Hulk, right at the start you have to "BITE LIP" to escape the chair.

That's not quite as obscure as some people make out, because the more obvious ROCK CHAIR is also an option.

(Later uses of BITE LIP do occur in the game)