jonathan blows the witness

King of Posters
#137

dammit I just solved that puzzle with my eyes closed in bed and had to get up to confirm the solution

this is already the second time this has happened to me in less than two days of playing this game

jonathan blow, you monster

anyway I really am curious what the final analysis is going to be like in terms of the game being too formal/academic/incremental/fair/clinical relative to something like riven. Unless something changes substantially, that seems like the primary critical juncture this game has to face. it is definitely quite playable though.

2 Likes
#138

Intentionally Wrong> I’ve sacrificed quite a few hours of sleep to get to that point and work would probably be happier if I hadn’t.

Regarding your question: It’s not a boat puzzle, but it is an obelisk puzzle that’s kinda similar in concept, with the same caveat that when you fail it there’s a delay before you can try it again. Out of the two boat puzzles I can’t solve I’m now sure I need to manipulate something else to make one possible and the other one actually isn’t a boat puzzle

Gate88> about 15 hours.

geist> I do not summon the name of Riven in vain. Also opening doors has more uses than it seems. Also also: not all puzzles depower when you fail, only the “teaching” puzzles do: it’s specifically there to discourage you from just guessing the answer to them by brute force.

Though now one of my headscratchers sure looks like depowering a specific puzzle would help. Alas, it’s not one of those puzzles. I am kinda scared this may be a Braid Star case and that restarting from scratch will be the only way to get that one. Time will tell.

#139

6 posts were split to a new topic: tmkf dishes on dicks

tmkf dishes on dicks
#140

Someone spoil the most basic tetromino rule for me, because I’m at that five-panel set outside that one building in the village that just has a single T-shaped block (and little black “go here” hexagons at every intersection), which I assume is the simplest version of the puzzle, and I can’t figure it out for the life of me.

My wife neither. Having two pairs of eyes and brains on this thing is so much more efficient, and so much more pleasant.

#141

you gotta go into the swamp to get the tetromino tutorial. it’s good. I think it was one of the last main areas I found though, the entrance is kind of tucked away.

#142

Yeah, we’re not gonna spoil tetromino rules for you, it’s one of the more satisfying rules to learn in the ingame way. The swamp tutorial starts with much simpler versions than the one you’re referring to.

tmkf dishes on dicks
#143

OK, that’s good to know. I certainly haven’t explored everything yet, but I just assumed it didn’t get any simpler than that.

#144

Yeah, in general any time you see a new symbol or new type of puzzle you don’t understand, there’s a tutorial area for it somewhere else on the island. That doors in the village (and a lot of other doors in in game) are sort of a knowledge check; you won’t be able to solve the puzzles behind them if you don’t understand the puzzle on the door.

I’m not sure if this dynamic changes late in the game, but everything I’ve seen so far works like that.

#145

Finished after 20 hours, with 413 plus 82 puzzles solved, so I think that leaves around 150-200 puzzles maybe?. I had nine yellow boxes opened when I decided to do it.

The endgame puzzles are pretty crazy! Some were mightily pissing me off until I solved them but they’re really good.
People are gonna hate the ending. I kinda like it, and no matter what the end game is great, but people are gonna hate it. It’s probably unreasonable to think everything will become clear when I finish all puzzles. We’re gonna have to sit and argue plenty on this one. Maybe it’ll turn out to have been Frog Fractions 2 all along. Probably not.

But eh, the real meat here is it’s the most thorough exploration of “draw a line from A to B” you’ve ever seen and that’s a title more worthy of respect than it seems.

The bug I mentioned earlier wasn’t a bug but me misunderstanding (well, forgetting) a puzzle rule. All is well.

It’s 2am so I’ll leave it at “it’s a really darn good game!”

2 Likes
#146

Nice! When I checked this afternoon, I was at 120 panels solved. Finished the greenhouse after all, but I think I ruined a bridge in the swamp? Need to work in that area some more to be certain.

#147

7 hours in, 195 puzzles, 3 yellow boxes open. I liked the polyomino tutorial and the mechanic in the mangrove tree areas.

I’ve also found two sets of things around each location on the island: obelisks and disconnected panels. I don’t know what they do yet.

Excited to go put my polyomino knowledge to work.

#148

The last negative space tetromino in a set of four… How…

#149

I think I’ve finished enough areas that I can go to the end game now, but I haven’t taken the dive yet. I did solve the puzzle to get into what I think is the endgame, and that was a rather neat one!

I’m looking at 13 hours and around 350 puzzles solved +around 20 other thingies.

Also, there are still some mysteries I haven’t solved yet, like how after you beat the desert area why does the laser point into the middle of nowhere? I assume there’s some way to redirect it but I haven’t found it yet.

I like the village area a lot; it seems to be a test of everything you’ve learned (and it combines some mechanics that you haven’t seen combined before up to that point). Haven’t beat it yet, either.

Ooh, you’re 7 hours in and don’t know what the obelisks do yet? That might blow your mind! Or maybe you’ve done things related to the obelisk and just haven’t noticed yet.

I also still don’t know what the panels do, and I’ve found a lot of them.

#150

I was really stuck on some of those tonight; I spent at least an hour staring at them (if not more). I finally beat them, but I’m still not sure I 100% understand the rules for them, but I have a guess that I think covers all the examples I’ve seen so far? They’re a lot weirder than I thought at the beginning of the night.

One of them specifically I felt like there was no example that prepared me for it at all. The only reason I figured it out was because it was impossible every other way I could think of.

#151

finished the swamp, so that’s three beacons for me. and I have another one (the error allotment area) half lit. this game is really well paced on top of everything else. think I’m just about cracking 200 puzzles.

#152

my wife insisted on starting her own game after watching me with the tetrominos (she’d probably have been playing with me from the start but she had plans on tuesday night and she went to bed early last night because she didn’t feel well). she’s already done the first beacon and is swearing she’ll catch up through she’s terrible at dual analog and is walking around the island half-cocked.

#153

I really should not be figuring out the safe colour combinations by trial and error

#154

If you’re lost in guesswork, it’s worth stepping back to the first puzzle of the area and retracing your progression, then as soon as you feel you’d have to guess, examine your surroundings for clues. The game is very consistent about that.

#155

Hokay, 150-ish panels done. I cleared the desert and the autumn forest area, and did enough of the swamp area to grok the tetrominoes. That’s definitely the one you don’t want spoiled for yourself – it’s extremely satisfying once you grok it. And might actually be kind of difficult to explain in words.

Is the “greenhouse” near the start somewhere? People talk about it but I’m not sure what it refers to.

I also haven’t seen anything happen with the obelisks yet? If someone wants to give some subtle non-spoilery hint, I might not mind. This sounds like the kind of thing I usually totally miss in games.

#156

Just like everything else, the game will give you clues to the obelisks as you progress. If you can’t figure them out yet just keep solving other stuff and your mental toolbox will be expanded.

The greenhouse is on the side of the big mountain. From the town’s harbor, facing the sea, go left along the coast.

The area giving me the most trouble is the forest around there, I keep getting lost in it and not finding the one path I’d like to find, though now I think I get what I may have been doing wrong.