Failing up with Puzzle Quest

Puzzle Quest makes me want to throw my PSP across the train. I’d quit, but it keeps dangling hope in front of my tear-stained face.

I know this game takes patience and foresight, so why do I feel like that lady on the PATH muttering to her obnoxious handheld video slot machine?

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Admittedly losing during the tutorial was a sign, but it always seems like things are gonna go my way. I’ll scratch together enough mana for a stun, pick up some more mana and hit a 4-way for an extra turn, throw down another stun, and I’m really on a roll! And then the computer drops a 12-turn avalanche on me without even stopping to think about it. At least The Chessmaster had enough decency to wait a second before humiliating me.


And it’s not demeaning enough to discover your intellect can’t rival an ogre or zombie. No, then Puzzle Quest has to throw you a bone. It couldn’t call itself an RPG without wevelling, and Puzzle Quest actually rewards your failures with experience points. I’ve almost lost enough to learn the Sword of Sirian technique. I’m thinking if I stick with it I could bungle things all the way to the White House.

But seriously, originality aside, who thought it would be a good idea to make a game that starts out impossible and then only gets easier?