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editI marked this as POV because the article was clearly slanted (as of this revision). I've made some changes - but I still feel as though there is the subtle negative vibe to the article, so I left the POV notice up. In case it matters, I've never played nor even heard of (before now) the game. -- Ben-Arba 11:28, 30 May 2006 (UTC)
- Blue ice has got a reputation for containing very hard, nearly unsolvable puzzles. I suggest thet you read the article at author-aided walkthrough carefully. First of all, the game authors intention was to indeed hold a competition, quoting literally:
- "When the authors, Rik Yapp and Carol Nudds conceived the game they planned to launch it as a competition. They designed it to be played on two levels -the adventure game and the deeper game. They envisaged that a lot of players would solve the adventure and that those who moved on to the deeper game would be helped by a series of staged clues to reach the U.S. and a hefty prize. To prevent hacking into a final screen and illegitimate claims to the proposed prize, they did the obvious thing - they didn't put one in. Instead players were to be invited to submit their U.S. to a competition address and await a big cheque or a letter of regret."
- and :"Nothing in the deeper game tells you that you are even working along the right lines and the only way we could confirm that we had indeed found the Ultimate Solution (U.S.) - after literally hundreds of hours of communal work - was to check it out with the author himself."
- plus, the authors themselves forgot some of the solution/puzzle details, and the competition was never held, so all that was left was a very hard and cryptic game: "Unfortunately the hoped for competition didn't materialise but Rik kindly issued his cryptic clues via e-mail and phone to an ever-decreasing group of BI afficionados. Even so, a few of the game's minor mysteries have still to be solved as the author himself has forgotten the minutiae!"
- So, there was not any final screen or well-defined ending to the game, just a (hard to tell) point where one would've solved all the puzzles, and was expected to post his progress. Also the walkthrough was completed relying heavily on the authors aid (especially Rik Yapp's), and the game did indeed contain impossible to solve puzzles by Rik Yapp's own admission (quoting):
- "Yet another red herring, this was Rik's own favourite problem in the game but he admits it is impossible to solve."
- Even if that in particular one wasn't a vital puzzle, it did nothing but add to the list of very hard (or 'really impossible to solve) puzzles that earned the game its reputation.
- For some reason however this info has been removed from the wikipedia article, I think it should be readmitted unless the validitiy of the external article itself is disputed.
EpiVictor 16:31, 30 May 2006 (UTC)
- I like your rewrite of the section better, simply because I find it clearer. Of course, I'm no final judge (especially since I haven't played the game), but I figured a little pot-stirring was in order for this article. Also removed POV. -- Ben-Arba 09:12, 6 June 2006 (UTC)