#1 bro
FEELING GREAT, FEELING GOOD, HOW ARE YOU?
In this topic, talk about the secret link game, whether you've found it or not, blah blah.
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Okay, here's my honest opinion on the secret link game: It sucks.
The rest of the tCoD site is amazing, but this is like the stain on its perfect record. It seems to be at first glance a very devious game that takes tons of logic to solve, but in reality, it's not logical at all.
Let me explain.
I found the link by accident while browsing the site, as I believe most of the people who found it did. My initial reaction was "WTF!!?!?!?! IS THIS THE SECRET LINK LOL WUT HAPPEND", but then I read the explanation and realized where it was hidden, and I was like "ahhhhhh... clever, clever". Then, later I realized that: while the hiding place is clever, the method of getting to the hiding place isn't clever. At all.
(hopes what he is about to post is not a spoiler)
Pretty much all but one clue in the entire game is meant to lead you astray. (If you've found all the clues, what that one clue is will probably be obvious.) But anyway, the very first clue you probably will find seems to point you towards some sections of the site, when in reality it doesn't. A bit annoying. This wouldn't be so bad, except for the fact the clue is actually entirely useless to finding the link. Most of the clues are like that too, seem like cryptic hints to finding the secret but are actually totally meaningless.
Sort of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?
But what's even worse is that there's no way to play the secret link game right. Let me explain.
There are three ways that you can win the game, a) cheating, b) finding the link by accident and c) figuring it out on your own. Obviously, a) is bad because cheating is not good in any sort of game. b) is also probably not what Butterfree intended. So (captain obvious), c) is what you are supposed to do, right?
But here's the thing. Most secret link veterens will agree, there is no way to logically find out the answer without getting that one crucial clue. "Why is that a problem?" you ask. "If you can find that clue, then you can win!"
Well, that's the thing. The place where the clue is hidden is a place where you are NOT supposed to look. In fact, Butterfree/Larissa calls you a "fool" for looking there. Which means that if you do everything right, you WON'T find the clue. Let me repeat that, you can't win the game without doing something wrong.
What fun is that? Furthermore, how is that logical?
The only other way to find the crucial, necessary clue is by doing the "semi-cheating" thing it mentions in the FAQ, but you probably aren't supposed to do this either.
So there you have it, if you do everything right, you will not find the clue.
AND the clues are hidden in really lame places. They're not at all scattered in secret places around the site as the page makes it out to be. I can't really say anything more without spoiling it, but trust me, the game isn't as much of an easter egg hunt as you might think it is.
Furthermore, even though I know the general area of where the link is, if I want to go back to it, it still takes me a couple tries to find the exact place. Meaning, if someone got the idea of "OH! I know where the secret link is! OMG! I need to go there right now!" and it was the right place, they might be very close but still not exactly where they need to be, and therefore dismiss the idea, searching on for more areas where it could be, not realizing that they left it behind.
So, I guess, all in all, the reason that I disliked the secret link is that when I found it, and thought about all the clues a bit, I got the feeling that I had been had. When I first came on to this site and found the page explaining the secret link, I felt like this would be an incredibly clever game that would take months of careful thinking to find the page. In reality, finding the page and the clues is a crapshoot, and very illogical at that.
I guess my point is, since the clue game and the crossword are both 1000x better mental challenges, I suggest Butterfree either gets rid of the secret link, or scraps it and makes a better version.
The above is all my opinion and my reaction to the game, if you have contradictory opinions, that's fine to. And let me say, Butterfree, your site is brilliant except for this one facet of it I wasn't pleased with.
(also, butterfree, how the hell did you keep it from showing the answers in the source code, and also in the marquee of doom. HOW?)
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Okay, here's my honest opinion on the secret link game: It sucks.
The rest of the tCoD site is amazing, but this is like the stain on its perfect record. It seems to be at first glance a very devious game that takes tons of logic to solve, but in reality, it's not logical at all.
Let me explain.
I found the link by accident while browsing the site, as I believe most of the people who found it did. My initial reaction was "WTF!!?!?!?! IS THIS THE SECRET LINK LOL WUT HAPPEND", but then I read the explanation and realized where it was hidden, and I was like "ahhhhhh... clever, clever". Then, later I realized that: while the hiding place is clever, the method of getting to the hiding place isn't clever. At all.
(hopes what he is about to post is not a spoiler)
Pretty much all but one clue in the entire game is meant to lead you astray. (If you've found all the clues, what that one clue is will probably be obvious.) But anyway, the very first clue you probably will find seems to point you towards some sections of the site, when in reality it doesn't. A bit annoying. This wouldn't be so bad, except for the fact the clue is actually entirely useless to finding the link. Most of the clues are like that too, seem like cryptic hints to finding the secret but are actually totally meaningless.
Sort of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?
But what's even worse is that there's no way to play the secret link game right. Let me explain.
There are three ways that you can win the game, a) cheating, b) finding the link by accident and c) figuring it out on your own. Obviously, a) is bad because cheating is not good in any sort of game. b) is also probably not what Butterfree intended. So (captain obvious), c) is what you are supposed to do, right?
But here's the thing. Most secret link veterens will agree, there is no way to logically find out the answer without getting that one crucial clue. "Why is that a problem?" you ask. "If you can find that clue, then you can win!"
Well, that's the thing. The place where the clue is hidden is a place where you are NOT supposed to look. In fact, Butterfree/Larissa calls you a "fool" for looking there. Which means that if you do everything right, you WON'T find the clue. Let me repeat that, you can't win the game without doing something wrong.
What fun is that? Furthermore, how is that logical?
The only other way to find the crucial, necessary clue is by doing the "semi-cheating" thing it mentions in the FAQ, but you probably aren't supposed to do this either.
So there you have it, if you do everything right, you will not find the clue.
AND the clues are hidden in really lame places. They're not at all scattered in secret places around the site as the page makes it out to be. I can't really say anything more without spoiling it, but trust me, the game isn't as much of an easter egg hunt as you might think it is.
Furthermore, even though I know the general area of where the link is, if I want to go back to it, it still takes me a couple tries to find the exact place. Meaning, if someone got the idea of "OH! I know where the secret link is! OMG! I need to go there right now!" and it was the right place, they might be very close but still not exactly where they need to be, and therefore dismiss the idea, searching on for more areas where it could be, not realizing that they left it behind.
So, I guess, all in all, the reason that I disliked the secret link is that when I found it, and thought about all the clues a bit, I got the feeling that I had been had. When I first came on to this site and found the page explaining the secret link, I felt like this would be an incredibly clever game that would take months of careful thinking to find the page. In reality, finding the page and the clues is a crapshoot, and very illogical at that.
I guess my point is, since the clue game and the crossword are both 1000x better mental challenges, I suggest Butterfree either gets rid of the secret link, or scraps it and makes a better version.
The above is all my opinion and my reaction to the game, if you have contradictory opinions, that's fine to. And let me say, Butterfree, your site is brilliant except for this one facet of it I wasn't pleased with.
(also, butterfree, how the hell did you keep it from showing the answers in the source code, and also in the marquee of doom. HOW?)
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