[quote name='Nintendonly']
I'm stuck at a part where I have to have a bridge made by an effeminate YMCA-looking dude, and no matter what my offer is, it ends up being wrong, so ALL of my rupees have to be given to him.
[/QUOTE]
If I recall correctly, making low offers to the bridge guy is cumulative: He keeps what you offer, but adds it toward the hidden total amount at which he'll start working. It's the same when you have to pay to get into a dungeon. Some of the NPCs work this way, others simply take your lowball amount and it is lost. The worst is if you get a monster chest in a dungeon, and you don't have enough rupees to pay it - you're pretty much F'd.
[quote name='Nintendonly']
That's what I call an effed-up gameplay mechanic, and is archaically akin to a poorly-developed NES-generation title (which were rampant). If you make an offer and it ends up being wrong, you shouldn't have to give all of your money to the NPC.[/QUOTE]
I think the point of this was to show how much of a loser Tingle is. Anyone, even a child, can take his money and there's nothing he can do. (The guy can barely fight, and needs to hire bodyguards for 99% of the enemies in the game.) But yeah, it definitely doesn't make for fun gameplay. Just go back home and save before you make any offers... assuming you can; sometimes you can't. Or just use a walkthrough for those parts.
I finished the game, enjoyed the exploration parts of it, but not the trial-and-error guessing games. Didn't bother finding all the hidden Rupee Goods. Can definitely see why Nintendo didn't release it here (as opposed to, say, Xenoblade). Worth playing if you have a little patience and/or a willingness to look things up online to make the annoying parts easier.