Problems problem-solving

So, Myst III is … different. I was having trouble with the level I’m on, so I went online to look for some clues, and … well, it’s weird. Like, in previous Myst games, there were puzzles to solve, and you could access many puzzles at once, but couldn’t move on to the next set of puzzles until you solved a specific group of puzzles. In this one, you kinda just wander around and … interact with stuff. The puzzles seem less overtly like puzzles.

Like, I apparently went through the linking books in the wrong order, because I just happened to wander around a little differently… and then when I got stuck on a particular part of the world I’m still stuck on, it wasn’t that I didn’t understand the puzzle, it was the same thing that always gets in my way in these puzzles. Something small and obvious.

Like, the puzzle was there’s these four controls that either trap or release steam pressure and a dial that shows how much pressure you have, and a lever that, if you have the right amount of pressure will move the entire platform you are on up like an elevator. At different heights, the controls add different amounts of pressure, so the challenge is to add/remove pressure in appropriate amounts at appropriate levels. For the life of me, though, I couldn’t figure out how to get the elevator to go down. I kept spinning the controls back and forth and pulling the lever and it just kept hissing.

So the other day I was in Fry’s, and I grabbed the player guide and I skipped to the section on this puzzle (I didn’t want to look at anything else), and … it explained everything I knew without telling me anything new. But one of the screenshots showed the lever going THE OTHER WAY. No mention of it in the text. Just assumed as obvious. Pull the lever to go up, push it to go down. Duh. So, I went home and … viola! I have the puzzle solved in mere moments.

That is the sort of thing I always miss. And not just in puzzling adventure games like Myst. In real life, too. Like, the solution to the housing puzzle is probably right under my nose, but I’m overlooking some obvious thing like push the lever to go down or close the elevator door before trying to go up (what I got stuck on in the original Myst). I just wish I could see it. The problem with things like that is that no one else can explain them either.

When I was re-playing Myst (actually realMyst at that point) and I got stuck ON THE SAME THING, and I showed someone who had also beat Myst previously where I was stuck, they couldn’t figure out why the elevator wasn’t moving either, because of the way I described the problem. What I was doing made sense, and I guess closing the elevator door was too obvious to mention since I’d been so thorough everywhere else. I eventually remembered, but… how do I find solutions to things like this in real life problems? If you have any ideas, please feel free to comment.

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Teel

Author, artist, romantic, insomniac, exorcist, creative visionary, lover, and all-around-crazy-person.

8 thoughts on “Problems problem-solving”

  1. My dad was always yelling at me to “Pay Attention!” so I spend life searching for all of the little clues, beating myself up when I don’t see them until later. People always tell me that I am very observant. It irritates me when others are not. When I am stuck in situation where there is one minor key missing I hear him telling me “Pay Attention!” I begin to beat myself up for not looking close enough and struggle until I figure it out. I try to remember to look for the obvious first, then look for the clues around me, then look at the big picture. Sometimes it takes hours. As I am typing this I am now wondering if I am even responding to you, or if your post just reminded me of all of this.

    Good luck.

  2. My dad was always yelling at me to “Pay Attention!” so I spend life searching for all of the little clues, beating myself up when I don’t see them until later. People always tell me that I am very observant. It irritates me when others are not. When I am stuck in situation where there is one minor key missing I hear him telling me “Pay Attention!” I begin to beat myself up for not looking close enough and struggle until I figure it out. I try to remember to look for the obvious first, then look for the clues around me, then look at the big picture. Sometimes it takes hours. As I am typing this I am now wondering if I am even responding to you, or if your post just reminded me of all of this.

    Good luck.

  3. Crazy. Someone reads this site. And responded (sort of) to something I said. I was pretty sure I was just talking to myself.

    So, how about those 20hr days?

  4. Crazy. Someone reads this site. And responded (sort of) to something I said. I was pretty sure I was just talking to myself.

    So, how about those 20hr days?

  5. You told me to look, so I did. 20 hour days? The coffee is kicking in and now you can’t sleep?

    I really like the flames. The site looks really cool. I am enjoying being able to keep up with what’s going on with you.

  6. You told me to look, so I did. 20 hour days? The coffee is kicking in and now you can’t sleep?

    I really like the flames. The site looks really cool. I am enjoying being able to keep up with what’s going on with you.

  7. I’ve always had a knack for puzzle solving. I attribute it to the countless hours and hours of Wheel of Fortune I watched as a child (my favorite show growing up, except for the Moonlighting years). Nary an episode goes by that I can’t guess at least one of the puzzles with two or fewer letters on the board. Pat Sajak, if you are reading this, hook a brotha up!

    Now it is time for the work. Goodbye.

  8. I’ve always had a knack for puzzle solving. I attribute it to the countless hours and hours of Wheel of Fortune I watched as a child (my favorite show growing up, except for the Moonlighting years). Nary an episode goes by that I can’t guess at least one of the puzzles with two or fewer letters on the board. Pat Sajak, if you are reading this, hook a brotha up!

    Now it is time for the work. Goodbye.

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