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Professor Layton: Pride Breeds Hubris Breeds Misery
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One Game Feature by Daniel Dujnic, 4/8/08
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Professor Layton and the Curious Village is an adventure game stuffed with logic puzzles. Or perhaps it's a puzzle game stuffed with adventure? In any case, it's got a lot of puzzles, and it makes no apology for that. No, perhaps there is an apology: those 'Hint Coins.' They can be cashed for, naturally, puzzle hints. It's kind of like cheating. Or is it? After all, they're designed into the game - a carefully thought out part of the balance. That's no cheat. And yet, the word, 'hint.' It awakens dark pride in me. Hint? I will take no hint!
I like figuring out puzzles, and to succumb to hints, built-in or not, smacks of failure. My goal in Layton became beating it without Hint Coins. I come up with arbitrary gaming goals like this all the time. Precisely why I do is unclear to me. They are games - they already have rules. Why add more? Maybe I'm just a masochist, or maybe I just wanted to spice up the point-and-click gameplay Layton offers. So, no hints! Onward!
It all fell apart quite early, during the very first of the infamous matchstick puzzles. I might blame Penny Arcade for psyching me out on this matchstick shit, but I that's no excuse for what I did next: I solved the puzzle by using a Hint Coin. And then, I turned off the Nintendo DS without saving.
While my save-file remained technically pure, the secret shame festered inside me, corrupting my soul, and worse, my game. Instead of puzzle-play being a joy, I was enslaved by my Rule. For three quarters of the game I hid my secret from the villagers. I forced myself to do even the most frustrating and mundane puzzles without hints in a vain attempt to make up for my indescretion.
Finally, after seventy puzzles of this, I screamed 'fuck it!' and tore up the floorboards on my tell-tale heart. Yes, I used another Hint Coin. And the pain went away - I became a well-adjusted individual. Good for me. Maybe next time I'll have the patience to see that the damn dog is facing to the left.
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'Pride Breeds Hubris Breeds Misery'
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#&rendershop#
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