Re: [Bookclub] [Late] Puzzles in _John's_Fire_Witch_

["Gabe McKean" <gmckean@wsu.edu>]

Neil Cerutti wrote in message ...
>I think _John's_Fire_Witch_ is an excellent puzzle game, and here's some
>armchair analysis and opinion.


[snip puzzle plot diagram]

>There is a nice feeling of openness in _John's_Fire_Witch_. After solving
>the game, I was sure that finding out how to use the card was a huge
>bottleneck in the game.

In a sense, it was.  The card is really the key to the entire game, and you
probably won't get very far without figuring it out.  I, for one, didn't
make much progress until I realized I could use the card to move around
freely.

>But this plot doesn't account for everything. There are some unwinnable
>states reachable in _John's_Fire_Witch_, one very easy to reach.
>
>  1. If you cross the pit before finding the magic card, you are stuck.
>     This has been accounted for by placing the card in the same spot as
>     the batteries, which you must have found by that point.

Finding the card isn't too hard.  Realizing that it's one of the items you
need to take with you over the pit is the sticking point (assuming you
haven't figured out how it works yet).  If you ask the devil about the pit,
though, he'll tell you that you need the card.

>Individual puzzles:
>
>Have a dream:
>
>  This is an unoriginal idea, but it is fit well into the story. I got an
>  feeling of reliving whatever John had gone through. It is well-clued by
>  John's diary, and the "you are really tired" messages. Nobody is likely
>  to miss this one.
>
>  You have to wait around 150 turns before you can have the dream, but even
>  on replays, there is enough stuff you can do before having the dream that
>  it doesn't amount to a waste of time.

I didn't think to sleep in the bed until rather late in the game, so I
didn't even notice that.

>Find and use the card:
>
>  The magic card is an excellent and original idea. An excellent property
>  of it is that you cannot solve it immediately. You must explore the
>  caverns a bit before the card can be used. It is an excellent twist on
>  the `teleporter' puzzle. You need a magic word, which is written on the
>  card, to use it. More complexity could have been added if the magic word
>  were hidden somehow.

Actually the magic word was written in the diary, not on the card.  Since
the card doesn't work right away, the player will probably forget about it
until he/she gets bored and starts playing with it again (hopefully after
visiting at least one of the crystal grottoes), or asks the devil about the
pit, which is what happened to me.

>Kill the goblin:
>
>  This is a poor puzzle, but it's easy, so nobody minds.

I minded.  There are 4 'baddies' in the game, and you defeat 3 of them by
outsmarting them (though you may not realize how until the critical moment).
Beating a goblin to death with a 2-by-4 might have been fun in a different
kind of game, but it seemed totally out of place in JFW.

>Cross the bridge:
>
>  This is more a relief than a puzzle. The player's been carrying around
>  these darn gems for the entire game thinking that they're red herrings.

Of course, by this point the player should realize that *none* of the
carryable items were red herrings.  They all turn out to have at least one
use (many uses, in the case of the card).  That's one of the reasons the
sins puzzle works so well: it requires the player to use a bunch of items
that he/she probably thought were there purely for atmosphere.

>Destroy the wizard:
>
>  It's hard to see how a player could guess that the solution to this
>  puzzle would work, but it's a fun and likely think for the player
>  to try through experimentation. It's nice that the player gets no
>  consideration at all from the Ice Wizard, even after he's been
>  imprisoned.

It's also nice that all possible permutations of the required action were
handled.  Of couse, only one leads to victory...  This is definitely a
'try-and-restore' puzzle, but not a bad one.


>The ending of the game is excellent, and only lacks a sequal. I'll be the
>first to download it when it's released.

Let's hope it does get released.