as for frustration - i think that lays exclusively with the boss fights lol

i see where you're coming from, but my argument towards brute forcing not being an issue is twofold

1. i think just about every puzzle in anything can be theoretically brute-forced. i'd argue this isn't necessarily a problem depending on the nature of the puzzle - figuring out something exceptionally crafty in a game like portal would just give a sense of accomplishment. however...

2. la mulana's ultimate riddles require knowledge of the entire puzzle ecosystem, and misunderstanding any of them is grounds to fuck up everything. in this way, i see your brute-force method to just be another one of the ruins' many traps

i won't deny that la mulana is a game that heavily revolves around cryptic nes-era shenanigans (trying every damn thing in every room before moving on), but i think its strength is in telegraphing what those things are. i can't really think of an instance in the game where i found a solution and went "oh come on" over it. because of this i also believe screenshotting in the game is pretty overkill. i think la mulana thrives on the tech it was designed around - pen and paper. just as much of the strategy in figuring out the puzzles is in how skilled and concise of a notetaker you are. if you keep track of everything so thoroughly via annotated pictures it spoils a lot of that indiana jones esque charm imo and even gives you more excessive shit to shuffle through

i think if i was as meticulous as you were, i'd have found the game somewhat dull too