hints2

So in general I think you need to lower your standards on what is not too vague for people to figure out. If people need to ask for help or look up what the hint means, then it's waaay to vague. That not what the hint system is supposed to be adding, it's not about having people memorize sets of answers, it's really just there to add a little flavor.

Multiple interpretations isn't just "not sure what item this is", but also just "I don't even know what this statement means". You need to think about a lot of these hints from the opposite direction from a lot of these are written. It's not so much "Ok this item makes this noise, so the hint can be about the sound", the problem is then it becomes "Ok I have a hint about some noise, but I have no idea what item that's referring to". And making that connection is often just looking it up and then memorizing the pairing.

I think it's fine to have clever jokes and puns and stuff, but this shouldn't be a puzzle that people need to decypher. The fact that mods feel they need to make a guide on what hints mean speaks volumes about this problem.

Ok moving on to the specifics:
-"gambling cheat": Again, it's about how you would normally read this kind of thing in English. The fact that it has a abiguity on how to read it makes it a bad hint. I think having a hint along these lines is ok, but it needs to be reworded.

-"Grapple Beam": this one is kinda ok, but cause grapple->hook, but having beam in here is just kinda confusing unless you know that this is a reference to another game. You would think "Beam? What item in this is a grappling beam?"

-"BOING! chain": thing one i'm not ok with. The predominant thing here is the sound, which makes no sense unless you get the relatively obscrure reference. The chain part is also kinda weird. Yes the hookshot has a chain, but it's not an obvious induction to go from chain->hookshot, it kinda only really works the other way around.

-"Somaria/Byrna": these make no sense unless you know the game they refer to. It might have the word "barrier", but again the predominant part of the hint is Byrna. Even without that, there are a ton of barrier items.

-"Din's/Farore's": Sure that's fine.

-"Magic Meter": While true, it still seems really weird since you aren't getting a magic meter, you're getting the ability to use magic. The meter is just a consequence of that, not the thing you get. I'm open to giving a different name, but I much prefer Magic over Meter since that's the thing you are getting. The items that use magic always felt more like spells to me, but splitting hairs here. I'm fine using something else if you have another suggestion. The game just says "You can now use magic", so I was kinda keeping it to that. Like if you want to call it like "Magic Training" or wtv, then fine, but I don't like Meter.

-"Help Drowning": This really can only be interpretted in one way. Drown is to die, and help means to assist. So assisted death. And in the context of oot, you mean to use the item to kill yourself. That fact that people use strats involving it, doesn't mean that the game should suggest it. I think this is just a joke in bad tastes, and really would just be better without it.

-"Woman license": Ok. I'm not sure if you're familiar with current social issues, but this is something that we should really just avoid. The phrase would literally mean something like "giving permission to be a woman", which if you're not familiar with the trans community, is kind of a really huge sticking point. In the game this isn't even what happens, they say something like "This is a group only for woman, but since you've proven yourself, we'll let you in as an honarary member". Which means that they don't consider you a girl, but they are letting you in anyways.

here's the quote:
	0x6004: "\x08I've seen your fine work. To get \x01past the guards here, you must \x01have good thieving skills.\x04\x08I used to think that all men, \x01besides the great Ganondorf, were \x01useless...but now that I've seen\x01you, I don't think so anymore!\x04\x08\x05\x41The exalted Nabooru\x05\x40, our leader, \x01put me in charge of this fortress.\x04\x08Nabooru is the second-in-command\x01to the great Ganondorf, King of \x01the Gerudo Thieves.\x04\x08Her headquarters are in the \x05\x46Spirit\x01Temple\x05\x40, which is at the end of the\x01desert.\x04\x08Say, you must want to become \x01one of us, eh?\x01All right, then!\x01You're in from now on!\x04\x08Take this. With it, you will\x01have free access to all areas of\x01the fortress!\x0B\x02",

the other possible interpretation is something like "a license for a woman", which again is not really that applicable. And the fact that it can have the rough meaning is enough to just not use, especially since this second meaning isn't the natural reading in English.


-"short-term love": I wasn't really thinking about temporary/permanant, and just in comparasion to the different levels of love in the other hints. In that context I guess it's fine. I would prefer something like "temporary love" however. Or maybe something that plays more on the fact that it's a refill, and not temporary.

-"fireworks": That's fair

-"nickel": yeah I'm not convinced people know what a nickel is. Same issue as all the LTTP references.

-"Boss key chest": Gilded is fine. Although gilded literally means "covered in gold" or "gold plated". I think they mean basically the same thing in this context, but if you prefer that, then that's fine. The word you were looking for was actually probably "gold trimmed", which means to be decorated with gold. In any case these are all gold things. Gilded is fine.

-"Colossus hands": That's fair. One side can only be done child, but the argument is fine. I wish there was a way to talk about the sides without them being reversed, but I guess I'll have to settle.