perhaps this is an inherint flaw in trying to overlay a narrative to a puzzle game? Stories usually have a set ending point (which clearly hasn't been fleshed out here). On the other hand, puzzle games by nature are intriguing for their replayability of the single gameplay element.

Would the same frustration have been felt had Final Fantasy VI dropped you off at the world map again after defeating Final Kefka? Would Freecell elicited such emotions if the card-shuffling gameplay been constructed around the story of a prisoner breaking out through a series of locked doors?