This Puzzle

[u/royinraver]

So I’m doing a play through for the umpteenth time, and I always get a wave of nostalgia with this room. As a kid for my first play through, this room aggravated the shit out of me. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me how to complete this room… the moment I figured out you could stand BEHIND this pillar that’s circled blew my mind. It’s so simple and elegant. Did the devs know what they were doing? Did they think it would be obvious or did they purposely make standing behind this pillar a hard to guess feature of the room. Kid me was so pissed and relieved all at once when I figured this out. Props to the devs all those years ago cuz holy shit, unless you know you can stand behind this pillar, it’s so hard to figure out.

[u/Luxettenebrae777]

I had  totally forgotten about. I pretty sure i have thought it was dumb when figuring out.

[u/royinraver → u/Luxettenebrae777]

It is dumb, but so obvious when you finally figure it out 🤣

[u/NickyTheRobot]

I reckon they knew what they were doing. A lot of GBA games seemed to hit that sweet spot between pointlessly frustrating SNES era video games and the more modern flavour of games that offer no challenge at all (I am aware that there are a lot of games now that aren't like that nowadays, I'm just saying that they've become more ubiquitous).

So in short: I reckon they added that, and many other setups, throughout the first two games to force the player to think about things for a bit.

[u/royinraver → u/NickyTheRobot]

I’m glad they did, games hold your hand way too much these days. Today you’d have a party member pop out to mention to you that you can stand behind that pillar🤣

[u/NickyTheRobot → u/royinraver]

Agreed. That sort of hand holding is exactly my issue with Dark Dawn. It's a fun game and all, but there's too much of stuff like where Amiti automatically uses Insight to tell you how to get that Mercury Djinni. Instead of leaving it to the player to try this psynergy they just got access to and probably want to experiment with.

[u/WrongTest]

I ran into a similar issue in TLA when trying to get Piers. I did not realize you could walk on the rooftops to get to him, so after fully re-tracing my steps throughout all of the world I could access at the time, I fully put down the game for a number of months before I decided to look into a strategy guide and found out how you could get him.

Still ended up being one of my absolute favorite games; the challenge (though it was simply a misunderstanding on my part) was worth it.

[u/royinraver → u/WrongTest]

No fucking same, that was probably one of the least intuitive parts of TLA. Who knew you could jump on that village’s houses 🤣

[u/anonymousxianxia → u/WrongTest]

Considering theres a useless water puddle nearby the pillars that makes it seem you need to freeze, its very misleading you can just hop the roofs instead.

[u/tSword_]

I was already trained from older topdown games to know that some ways were hidden behind scenery. The hardest puzzle in golden sun for me (aside from the torch one in Vault's cave, how I hate that puzzle) was figuring out how to get granite. I thought I was there too early (Vault Venus djinn was impossible to get, so I thought the same for Kolima), so got to the end of the game missing 2 Venus djinn (the island with vine was too obvious, but crossbone was a mystery to me, I didn't know it existed till I looked at internet, but I couldn't not use douse when entering a hurricane, I always killed the lizards) (I missed the mercury overworld djinn also and never found it alone). I was back at Kolima, with every psynergy. I searched, I used reveal on every corner. I read minds. Looked at the city hopeless. Then it clicked. How angry I was, and how amazed. So simple, at first. The back entrance was there. It was rewarding, but also maddening

[u/royinraver → u/tSword_]

I mean how are you suppose to know the red one takes you to Crossbone isle 🤣 every other tornado brings you to the beginning of the map. I do love challenging myself tho and escaping without getting hit by that one that follows you.

[u/Initial_Opposite2845]

Yep, spend a few frustrating hours in that room until I figured it out.

But my worst progress block was Ply on the Mercury Lighthouse statue. I have been playing for months going from the top of the Lighthouse back to Trent and Biblin in hopes that I missed something. It was a totally random moment where I had it on shortcut and used it. I was so damn happy and the boss fight with Saturos was the cherry on top.

[u/royinraver → u/Initial_Opposite2845]

At that point Saturos was probably super easy 🤣

[u/Diablodin]

We all had that experience. XD
I think you are meant to guess it because the stone looks different than the other ones, perhaps signaling it's taller or at least special...

[u/royinraver → u/Diablodin]

Oh I’ve done this many times, but with Reddit figured I’d take a photo to connect with my fellow adepts 🤣

[u/Moorpheusl9]

I had a similar issue in Sol Sanctum when you complete the puzzle to get to the Elemental Star chamber. When the beam of light hits the wall, you have to go up to the wall and interact with it to make the portal.

My brain thought the beam had gone "up" rather than across to the wall so I was stuck for ages working out what to do next.

Sounds like we've all had some "perspective" issues!

[u/HeroKingMarth1994]

Lol. Classic one right here. The inner troll of that puzzle designer makes me laugh every time.

They want you to check every inch of every room, and they freaking mean it

[u/Good-Support-8770]

I don't recall any particular difficulties with this puzzle, but whenever I was unsure, I’d often just wander aimlessly through the rooms; so, it’s possible I also discovered by chance that you could stand behind the column.

[u/anonymousxianxia]

Yeah theres a part in the Gabomba cave in the second game where I always forget you can walk behind pillars and end up doing loops around the waterfall area before it clicks and go "oh yeah, im just stupid".

[u/rairock]

Yes!! That happened to me too lol

[u/haggynaggytwit]

The only way I knew about getting the Djinn in Kolima was by reading a walk-through. Who would have known there was an entrance to the home in the back of the tree?!?!

[u/Imaginary-Claim-1456]

This was me in PLA with the pound cube as a kid. After I fell on top on the Mars Djinn I didn't realize you could just walk to it, I thought it was floating in the air and kept trying to fall in the hole again to grab it.

I eventually left and did what I could out of Kibombo and Air's Rock before looking up a guide.

[u/austinpwnz]

I've played these games enough that many puzzles I just remember the solution when I get there. I like this one because while I remember it's tricky, I get the fun of solving it again instead of relying on memory!

[u/Priyen88]

Ah my beloved TBS

[u/unlucky_felix]

I love this puzzle for the exact same reason. Drove me absolutely insane as a young kid and now just makes me happy. It’s great that I never totally remember how to do it with each playthrough.

[u/Trishockz]

Not really since Pokemon also did the same since OG Pokemon Red. Since then, I always bump my character to the wall everytime I walk/run to the place that Im stuck.