> > > After beating FQ, Brackly Hall, TOA, and GOA, I figured I might as well move on to POA. But after reading all the hair-pulling posts, I'm not entirely sure I should.
> > >
> > > Here's the problem - I've got tendonitis (well, that's not quite it, but it's close enough) in my left and right forearms, and I've had to cut down on my computer time. I actually had a lot more trouble with TOA than I did with GOA (don't ask, I missed a blatantly obvious clue), and it really caused my problems to flare up. The other three didn't, but I beat them with less trouble.
> > >
> > > Now despite my difficulties, the four I've played were worth it because they were hard enough to challenge me but not so hard that I went totally insane. Looking at POA, though, I get the feeling that the sheer size of the game alone is a reason to steer clear of it. I lost track of time completely on TOA and got seriously behind on some personal projects as a result.
> > >
> > > So, to those who've played it: Is it worth it? Does it clear up anything in TOA? Or should I just lay off, wait til my hand problems clear up (which will probably be, oh, in 2004 at this rate), and do something else?
> > >
> > > I'm probably going to do the smart think and leave it be, but I was just wondering.
>
> In terms of size, POA and GOA are actually comparable (GOA is larger by 10-15% or so). POA probably takes longer because it is more spread out, I think, and GOA has slightly longer descriptions on average.

Really? I had no idea. I just kind of assumed that POA was larger beacuse it got a 9 on the AGL difficulty rating and GOA got a 7.
>
> My advice is to either not play it, or to play very sparingly so that you don't make your condition worse.

Given those choices, I would choose not to play it if I were you. If you play sparingly, then you will be more prone to lose track of what's happened in the game, making you take even longer than normal, which is pretty darn long as it is. From a purely gaming point of view, it seems waiting for your hand to recuperate is at least the more economical choice.
>
> > I think you should be the judge. But I will say that there is a new game on the way, codenamed SOAT, that is 5 times a big and hard as POA and TOA combined. It will probably be out by the time your hand gets better, if Sam keeps his word. As for POA, it is, at least in my opinion, very hard. I've spent as much time on it as I have on GOA, which I have finished, and I doubt I'm even halfway done with POA.
>
> SOAT has even longer descriptions than GOA, but the puzzles can be even trickier and more spread out than POA, so I don't know how the gameplay time/game size ratio will be changed. Probably SOAT will take proportionately even longer than POA, I'd guess -- so you'd probably be looking at spending 20 times as long as TOA took.