Salem
SICK
Here's the thing, I actually think that puzzle is supposed to be easy, it's meant to tell you to looks at your soundings to solve it in an indirect way, I think it supposed to teach the player to look at everything in the room, so that in the future when the player does get stuck, they would look at walls, floors to get a clue on how to solve future puzzles.I apologise for my role in distracting the thread. Let's get to the main point, then.
If the topic is what to replace a pointless puzzle with, the answer of combat came up, but I have been thinking about it a little. Could the puzzle be replaced by another puzzle? Maybe not in every case of replacement, sure, but in some to ward off the spectre of repetition. For example, let's go back to that fan puzzle in Twilight Princess that I love/hate so much. The puzzle as it is involves turning four fans in a specific order to open a gate. The order is indicated by an obvious pattern on the floor, which I think makes the puzzle too easy. Rather than remove it or put a tough enemy in front of the gate, what about changing it to a different type of puzzle?
The Forest Temple has vines everywhere and Link swings on them throughout. What if the fans were replaced by a pulley system that uses vines, and the player must manage the weight on either side to pull the gate open, either by grabbing it themselves or arranging the dungeon's monkey on them? That would require the player to think more about how to open the gate, but also wouldn't require any blatant hint, just a quick indication that weight on the vines affects the gate.
Of course, changing the puzzles leaves you in the position of having to manage a new hint, but an example like the one above would seem to deftly avoid making such a hint too obvious, merely indicating the nature of the puzzle and leaving you to solve it in peace. For puzzles which couldn't be replaced so easily by a different one, then the option of combat still remains.
Actually I think "clue" is an appropriate term for these kind of things.
It meant to clue you in what needs to be done without stating it in text, or showing a cutscene.
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