jonathan blows the witness

King of Posters
#266

Yes! I finally beat “The Challenge”. It’s rather hard! It requires things of you that the rest of the game doesn’t. I sort of hoped the game would test me like that at some point, and it did, so that’s nice!

I’m sitting at 499+58 and 26 hours played. I know where a few more puzzle panels are, and I intend to finish those, but after that I think I’m done. I have no desire to seek out all the obelisk-related puzzles.

Regardless, I’m pretty satisfied with my time spent in this game. Was a fun ride and a pretty good puzzle game.

#267

Only one puzzle left that I know of! Score is 519+134+5 after 57 hours. I can feel the cosmos! Unsurprisingly every single puzzle I solved tonight was rooted in wrong assumptions I’d made on previous ones.

Gate88> I really liked the challenge. I had something like half a second left when I finally managed to solve the pillars. That was great! It’s actually the second of its kind in the game, if you think back to the bottom of the normal end zone, the room with the statue of the creator (well, I’m gonna keep calling him that even though the recent audio logs imply this may have been a group effort). The two puzzles on the door changed on each try and were timed too, though I’m not sure whether they were procedural like the challenge puzzles or just randomly chosen from a pool (probably procedural since the challenges demonstrate they have the tech).

Those puzzles seem like the ultimate expression of the “no walkthrough” plea, since it’s impossible to just write down the path in a faq. You have to have fully internalized the rules to solve them, and so it’s interesting they each guard an achievement.

I do think you should seek the reward for the challenge though, even if you don’t plan to 100% the game.

Among the quotes I really liked, there’s (ending spoiler) the short one in the beginning area, the buddha one about many lives. It made a lot more sense after I’d reached the ending and restarted the game. Because yeah, I dunno how it was for you guys but I redid everything after the ending instead of just reloading my previous save game. I had an excellent reason at the time, though I now know things I didn’t know then. But on the whole I had a lot more tolerance for them than you guys.

Broco> yeah, that talk is excellent! There’s another one that is very relevant, to the Witness and to Icebergvanias, but for reasons related to the postgame I’ll refrain from linking it just yet.

#268

Haven’t read a lot of the comments here due to worry about spoilers, but would people recommend this? Not a huge fan of puzzle games but I am always up (down?) for weird games. Surprised at how big the thread is, which made me curious.

#269

Did you like Fez or Myst/Riven? Did you like Braid? They very much have lots in common with this game. If they appeal to you this one will. I think Undertale would qualify, too, in a way. And Layton.

It’s only tracing lines from A to B, in the same sense that Dark Souls is only about killing your opponents. Very much so in many respects. Does that appeal to you?

Are you the kind of person who likes the idea of not looking at any walkthrough for 20-30 hours at least, instead just doing something else when you’re stuck? Being FAQ-free and liking it is very much a prerequisite for enjoying this game IMHO. The design is nonlinear and nontextual so you won’t get much in the way of explicit story to drive you along. You’ll be on an island covered in puzzles and will have to work with that.

It’s also a masterclass in game design, in particular puzzle design, and teaching by example. It’s very much a game for game designers, possibly more than for gamers. It’s more interested in you understanding than you winning. Trying to win instead of understand will make the game less enjoyable. And while this may sound arid, the flipside is it is very much interested in giving you that moment of pure mental joy that comes with understanding, again and again and again.

It seems it would also be interesting for non-gamers, people who like to play on tablets and have no expectations about plot or forms of reward more specific to “normal” videogames.

Do you like the idea of mystery, of not knowing what comes next or whether there is, in fact, a second castle?

It’s without a doubt the most interesting thing I’ve played recently, too, easily ranking above Undertale and MGS5 which both are games I really like.

3 Likes
#270

OK, I figured out what I was missing (silly blind spots really) and got all 11 lasers today. Current score 420+65. Really not sure what I need to be doing now though to get access to the challenge area. Maybe get all videos? I’m missing two. I could also stare at obelisks and track down the ones I’m missing. It seems like I’m in for a bit of aimlessness though.

#271

You can access the challenge area with what you currently have done. Here’s a hint if you want it: Look for something new you can do at the top of the mountain.

#272

“False ceilings” caught my attention because that was a phrase I borrowed from Adam Cadre when I posted an icebergvanias topic in The Old Axe a few years ago–and in the video, he confirmed Cadre as his source! It’s gratifying to see Cadre’s influence is already greater than I’d realised.

#273

I solved the last puzzle I knew i was missing (and, learning from yesterday’s lessons in oversight, I solved it pretty fast). It’s now over for me. OR IS IT? At the very least i’m as far as anyone seems to be. My final score is 523+135+6, with all beacons and obelisks at 58 hours. The real closure I had was two days ago, this is a bit underwhelming by comparison. Still, every new thing I learn or see about the island makes my quest for numbers seem a bit misguided, mysterious little things (and even some pretty huge ones) abound even when the game doesn’t count them for me.

I guess all the previous messages already gave away how great I think the game is.

#274

Yes, up to a point. Always find there’s a very particular threshold where this goes from engaging to annoying.

Will give it a shot, at the very least this description makes it sound interesting. Thanks Chevluh.

#275

Working on the village. 10 beacons are lit. Can someone nudge me in the right direction regarding the orphaned piece of lattice from the garden?

#276

The piece of lattice in the village church? A requirement to solve it is to first complete some of the color puzzles that are nearby.

#277

Thanks. Got it.

The mountain is the first area that feels deliberately hostile like Portal. The obstacles are less cute and more pointed.

About 18 hours in and pretty satisfied in that I may not spend a lot of time on mopping up stars after I beat Bowser.

This might be the first game I give my dad to play in VR. An iPad version would be something I’d recommend to non-game people without hesitation.

#278

Well, I understand not wanting to mop up obelisks, but if you have 11 lasers anyway, make sure to go do the Challenge. It’s a pretty essential part of the game I think – a qualitatively different experience from the rest of it. I’m still working on it myself.

1 Like
#279

I need to go figure out the last three lasers at some point, I’m pretty stuck in the village (on four different puzzles) and the temple, and I don’t even know where the last one is.

#280

Started this since apparently one of my machines can actually run it

Have found one audiotape - henceforth I should just avoid these completely, right?

#281

I’m missing one laser in the desert and one in the treetops.

[spoiler]In the area below the pyramid, do you have to raise and lower the water level over and over and find the exact perfect spot to notice the patterns on the panels? Or is there something I’m missing?

I tried to calculate when I should get a glare effect angle according to the position of the light sources around, but I don’t understand any of it.[/spoiler]

#282

OK I did the challenge. I’m at 513+77, 55 hours played. My initial excitement at the challenge started to give way to salt around the 20th attempt, I had so many solid attempts murdered by a single godforsaken stumper. I think there’s a pretty big luck component to it, it’s not really the pure test of mastery that it first appears to be.

And WTF is this reward

#283

Your guess is correct regarding the water level.

I just got “Endgame” and, yeah. I guess I’ll be doing the challenge. I don’t like how the game went from meditative to aggravating on a dime but that might be my experience alone. The village was a better final exam.

#284

Well sure, the intended order is mountain first, then village, then challenge. Village is objectively a lot harder and requires more game knowledge to complete. The mountain has medium-level puzzles with twists in order to be doable no matter which 4 areas you failed to complete.

Yes you can do that, as far as I know there’s no useful information in any of the audiotapes.

#285

This is even trollier than it first appeared. I have no words