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[Remembrance]

Got the bonus ending after 30 hours of game time. I was worried that getting accidentally spoiled on +1s had blown the biggest surprise, but what a rush when I finally blew that starting gate wide open.

Definitely tackling the Challenge next, but now I'm not actually sure if I can find the drive to get all the +1s. It feels like Riddler Trophies all over again. And you have chaotic areas like the treehouses and the jungle to look forward to...

My understanding is that the very first quote on top of the starting house defined the purpose of the game and the island:

Through many births
I have wandered on and on,
Searching for, but never finding,
The builder of this house.

The island was constructed as a dream world (which you apparently experience by plugging yourself into various machines and pee bottles, as the man waking up at the end was). Inside this dream world you lose all your memories, as a means of inducing a zen state of mind, as suggested by the many quotes. Perhaps as a means of coming closer to god - the "builder of this house"?

You can wake up from the dream any time you want (as one of the recordings suggested) by lighting seven lasers and entering the elevator. The very last thing you hear before waking up is, indeed, a reminder that all this will vanish, like a star at dawn or a dream - the island resets itself as though you were never there.

At another level, this game is about finding the "builder of this house" in a different sense. We find Jonathan Blow himself in the game literally, as the puzzle-maker at the bottom of the mountain, and figuratively, as the invisible hand behind every machination, every task, everything you see. By emptying our mind of all worldly ideas in an environment carefully swept free of all such ideas, we embrace the pure language of the puzzles, which brings us closer to Blow and how his mind works. Every time you curse him on seeing a hard puzzle - and instantly realizing that someone did this with full intent and purpose - that is a message received directly from the mind of the creator of the game.

As the fifth video clearly stated, we know nothing except our own awareness. But, by immersing ourselves in this meticulous construct, we can come astonishingly close to understanding the person who constructed it.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

It's crazy that the eclipse lecture was planned for inclusion all the way back in 2010, or earlier.

http://ludix.com/moriarty/psalm46.html

 

[Remembrance]

Also: why are you able to trace lines no matter how far away they are?

Because it's a dream and it's all in your head.

 

[nynt9]

Also: why are you able to trace lines no matter how far away they are?

Because it's a dream and it's all in your head.

Why are you able to trace lines at all? What are the lines?

 

[xir]

I suspect there's some bigger meta puzzle that nobody has solved yet.

Anyhow, has Blow said anything about Sagan? Is the quote about "they wanted too much money" a reference to the RL Sagan estate managers?

Was thinking of Sagan the entire time, and that satellite with the binary numbers and everything to prove intelligence to an alien species.... I almost feel like the island is an ark set adrift to showcase the human species stripped of religion and art, well maybe not stripped, but muted, and putting the human mind, its communication via science, in the forefront.

 

[Tragicomedy]

MEGATON for those struggling with the last challenge: take a picture of a difficult puzzle on your phone and have your PS4 enter rest mode. The timer stops. Now you can take your sweet time!

 

[Remembrance]

Why are you able to trace lines at all? What are the lines?

I think it's a meaningless activity to help induce a zen state.

Also, I got the "full" version of the "builder of this house" quote on an archived copy of the-witness.net (which was up all the way until a few days before release). I say "full" because I don't think the whole text matches the intent of the final game anymore:

Through many births
I have wandered on and on,
Searching for, but never finding,
The builder of this house.
To be born again and again is suffering.

House-builder, you are seen!
You will not build a house again!
All the rafters are broken,
The ridgepole destroyed;
The mind, gone to the Unconstructed,
Has reached the end of a craving!

I feel like that's a hint at the original, rejected story of the game, where the person who designed the island was actually talking to you through the audio logs. Was the original goal of the game to track him down in-game?

Also, I think there is one more loose end that nobody mentioned on the first page. Or is there really nothing else?

 

[nynt9]

I think it's a meaningless activity to help induce a zen state.

Sure, and we can also just brush it off as a "ludonarratively dissonant" gameplay mechanic that's just a vehicle, but I wonder if there is supposed to be more to it. It's the core of the game, the way we interact with everything. I feel like there needs to be an explanation for that.

 

[Exuro]

The final video with the woman speaking freaks me out. Why is she talking like that haha

I still need to find 3-4 more of those though. Have no clue where they might be.

I currently found a tiny room in the town with two panels which looks to be in a soundproof room. I brute forced my way through where the wire lit up. Followed it and now I have no clue what to do in this blue room... I did the middle panel and it made everything green, and now I'm stuck.

Where exactly is this? Only blue room I can find in town is on the second floor of one of the buildings but i have no idea how to get into it.

edit: whoops I inadvertently found a basement in that building. So many areas are tucked away in this game. Love it.

And found the place. Nice

 

[GDJustin]

I've brought this up before, but the more I think about it the more I find it really odd that the save file denotes completed obelisks -

- It's redundant. If you're at +135, you have to be at +6. So why is it there?

- The info isn't used for anything. I know that overall puzzle count isn't specifically used for anything either, but it at least makes sense as a general progress marker.

- Why highlight obelisks separately? What's the difference between something like "+ 450+65 +2" and just "+450 +65"?

I don't necessarily think this is a "clue" per se, but it does bug me. It would make so much more sense for that third number to be used to track lasers, or hexagons, or audio logs. Especially when, at least as of now, it doesn't seem like these environmental puzzles even matter to the endgame. And yet they take up a big portion of your save game name.

Other random stuff:

- We still don't know exactly what's up with the statue in the lake + its flickering lantern.
- There's four floor puzzles in the cave with multiple correct solutions, and they make a strange mechanical sound when completed. This is arguably the best current lead.
- We still don't know exactly what's up with the ending FMV, although people have transcribed the text on the monitor and some other details.

 

[Kaisos]

Has anyone figured out what the different laser colors mean?

 

[Shrike Alvaron]

Well since I've essentially finished the game now outside of the one psychedelic panel puzzle in the cave, the Challenge, and random hidden lines I feel I can come in this thread now XP Despite seeing the secret ending a few days ago when I started a new save thinking I had missed it in my proper save, seeing it again now after hearing all the meta fourth wall-breaking audio logs painted it in a new light. Then I also went and loaded up the video into the Bink video player to get a good look at this monitor. (There's no other ending video in there BTW, though that doesn't discount the possibility of a third ending using in-game graphics)

While it's easy to dismiss the secret ending as being a joke, referencing either Blow or the player getting so obsessed with the game that they hook themselves up to life support, when you see that the computer there is actually running what appears to be the island/dream simulation that was terminated in its 24th run and put it into the context of the post-endgame audiologs... Yeah, so while I initially liked my theory that the game was an abstraction of a dying person's mind and psyche, it seems pretty concrete that it is definitely a constructed simulation for the player to be put into a dream-like state in. Players can spend days hooked up to this, though time is presumably dilated so that it seems to pass faster inside than it does outside, seeing as how each run only took the player in the video ("you") around 4 hours or so in real time. And, due to it being an induced dream-like state it would mean that the player would forget most or all details of their previous runs once they get into the elevator beneath the mountain and cycle over to the next run.

So what's it all for? I'm not clear on that, but I believe it's clearly meant to be a place of tranquility above all else, one where a person can spend time in pieces to reflect, introspect, and come up with solutions to problems. Indeed, while the simulation is ostensibly about solving the puzzles, I believe that actual point is for the player's mind to be subconsciously put to work solving actual problems they may have; the whole idea about the mind being extremely susceptible to influence while in this state one of the logs mentions.

So yeah, it's a pretty interesting story in the end even if its barebones during actual gameplay. I'm sure there's much more to it than just this anyway, indeed I like the idea I saw here that the simulation is a work in progress with unfinished puzzles (the triangles) scattered over the place for the time being. Would tie into the ending video being filmed in Blow's office too (with Blow himself presumably being the actor there).

 

[Pungza]

Well since I've essentially finished the game now outside of the one psychedelic panel puzzle in the cave, the Challenge, and random hidden lines I feel I can come in this thread now XP Despite seeing the secret ending a few days ago when I started a new save thinking I had missed it in my proper save, seeing it again now after hearing all the meta fourth wall-breaking audio logs painted it in a new light. Then I also went and loaded up the video into the Bink video player to get a good look at this monitor. (There's no other ending video in there BTW, though that doesn't discount the possibility of a third ending using in-game graphics)

There are two secret endings, a long and a short one. No idea how to get the short one, maybe the puzzle beforehand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk5l2ZgQQ3E#t=9m55s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNhCZ9uIiq4#t=9m10s

 

[Randdalf]

So I just "finished" the game and gone flying around the island back to the start (like starting a new game from scratch...), any tips on what to do next? I'm avoiding reading the rest of this thread. The only thing I can think of right now is to find all the bunkers (of which I've done 3, and completed 2) and triangle puzzles, or maybe find all the environmental puzzles and fill out the totems. I also didn't explore the boat because it spooked me.

My only save file at the ending appears to leave me trapped in the elevator so I can't resume from there :/

 

[Deleted member 30609]

So I just "finished" the game and gone flying around the island back to the start (like starting a new game from scratch...), any tips on what to do next? I'm avoiding reading the rest of this thread. The only thing I can think of right now is to find all the bunkers (of which I've done 3, and completed 2) and triangle puzzles, or maybe find all the environmental puzzles and fill out the totems. I also didn't explore the boat because it spooked me.

My only save file at the ending appears to leave me trapped in the elevator so I can't resume from there :/

You can open the elevator from the inside.

Also, there is a secret in the mountain if you have all 11 lasers.

 

[Randdalf]

You can open the elevator from the inside.

Also, there is a secret in the mountain if you have all 11 lasers.

Alright, thanks. I'm fairly certain I got all 11 lasers so I'll have to look for that.

 

[BeeDog]

You can open the elevator from the inside.

Also, there is a secret in the mountain if you have all 11 lasers.

Quick question about your first point (potential spoilers):

Spoiler

Do you mean the elevator within the mountain? I'd assume you mean you send the elevator up and gain entry to the bottom floor by one of the shortcut doors you can open near the Challenge area. Correct or not, or am I overthinking it?

 

[Deleted member 30609]

Quick question about your first point (potential spoilers):

Spoiler

Do you mean the elevator within the mountain? I'd assume you mean you send the elevator up and gain entry to the bottom floor by one of the shortcut doors you can open near the Challenge area. Correct or not, or am I overthinking it?

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I meant the elevator that rises up from the water in the normal "end-game".

 

[BeeDog]

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I meant the elevator that rises up from the water in the normal "end-game".

Nah, no error on your part, re-reading everything just confirmed I'm an idiot that lacks reading comprehension skills, sorry.

 

[FelipeMGM]

MEGATON for those struggling with the last challenge: take a picture of a difficult puzzle on your phone and have your PS4 enter rest mode. The timer stops. Now you can take your sweet time!

If you made it there those are fairly easy. I think Blow put those there so people that try to beat the game with guides struggle a bit. But after doing at least 300+ puzzles on your own those are a piece of cake, even with the timer.

There are two secret endings, a long and a short one. No idea how to get the short one, maybe the puzzle beforehand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk5l2ZgQQ3E#t=9m55s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNhCZ9uIiq4#t=9m10s

Damn, the short is even weirder thant the long one.

 

[Neoweee]

Was thinking of Sagan the entire time, and that satellite with the binary numbers and everything to prove intelligence to an alien species.... I almost feel like the island is an ark set adrift to showcase the human species stripped of religion and art, well maybe not stripped, but muted, and putting the human mind, its communication via science, in the forefront.

That makes some sense given the talk of "most favored nation" status, etc. during the Sagan clip, as if this project is some massive, multi-national collaboration. Launch up the VR pods/connections, and see who plugs in.

 

[xir]

That makes some sense given the talk of "most favored nation" status, etc. during the Sagan clip, as if this project is some massive, multi-national collaboration. Launch up the VR pods/connections, and see who plugs in.

See, I haven't even seen/knew about the sagan clip.

Add in the FMV ending and I'd add a dash of Borges, which I think is fine if you see that italo calvino (invisible cities) was an influence in interviews.

There's a particular Borges story, very short (forgot the name sorry) where he dreams he meets his future self as an old man, and a fetal Borges as well. And it's a dream, but it is more, if I remember correctly, because an idea from outside of his current state of mind is introduced (think Inception's main conceit and title) that solidifies his dream as other worldly.

The dreamer can also be the builder and remain separate from himself.

Man, in college in the early 2000's I made an art video called "the new nature" that was pretty bad, but kind of reminiscent of the FMV in the Witness. It's like if the world of myst and patterns was layered over ours. Blow executed on the idea way better, but it's kind of freaking me out.

Oh, i think this is the borges story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_(short_story)
Have to be honest I've read it, but more familiar with a short comic adaption from SPX antholgoy.

 

[Neoweee]

See, I haven't even seen/knew about the sagan clip.

Add in the FMV ending and I'd add a dash of Borges, which I think is fine if you see that italo calvino (invisible cities) was an influence in interviews.

There's a particular Borges story, very short (forgot the name sorry) where he dreams he meets his future self as an old man, and a fetal Borges as well. And it's a dream, but it is more, if I remember correctly, because an idea from outside of his current state of mind is introduced (think Inception's main conceit and title) that solidifies his dream as other worldly.

The dreamer can also be the builder and remain separate from himself.

Man, in college in the early 2000's I made an art video called "the new nature" that was pretty bad, but kind of reminiscent of the FMV in the Witness. It's like if the world of myst and patterns was layered over ours. Blow executed on the idea way better, but it's kind of freaking me out.

Oh, i think this is the borges story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_(short_story)
Have to be honest I've read it, but more familiar with a short comic adaption from SPX antholgoy.

Ah, not Saga clip, I meant audio log where they talk about Sagan a bit, in the Physics-Atheists discussion.

 

[Shrike Alvaron]

There are two secret endings, a long and a short one. No idea how to get the short one, maybe the puzzle beforehand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk5l2ZgQQ3E#t=9m55s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNhCZ9uIiq4#t=9m10s

Well, that's odd. There's no video file for the short one in the PC version's data directory, so perhaps it's from the PS4 version? I imagine they had to submit the PS4 version to Sony earlier than they could with the PC version (which only went up the night before release), and since the full secret ending was only filmed in the last week or two before release they may not have been able to get it in in time. So, they went with a shorter version without any of the props just so they could have something.

Anyone with a PS4 able to confirm this?

 

[Remembrance]

One distinctive detail from the credits ending:

At the very end of the path, you see a statue falling through the void. This is the statue that was reaching for a goblet on the peninsula. Based on the nearby recording, this tableau is an allegory for trying to perceive god, but being unable to.

So since the same man is falling through the void with the goblet, at the moment of awakening from the dream... Does that mean that he, and you, have also managed to perceive god/the "builder of this house" by that point?

 

[Michael Armbrust]

Well, that's odd. There's no video file for the short one in the PC version's data directory, so perhaps it's from the PS4 version? I imagine they had to submit the PS4 version to Sony earlier than they could with the PC version (which only went up the night before release), and since the full secret ending was only filmed in the last week or two before release they may not have been able to get it in in time. So, they went with a shorter version without any of the props just so they could have something.

Anyone with a PS4 able to confirm this?

The short one is from pre-final copies. You can also hear that the audio logs are Blow's voice in that youtube video.

 

[FelipeMGM]

Well, that's odd. There's no video file for the short one in the PC version's data directory, so perhaps it's from the PS4 version? I imagine they had to submit the PS4 version to Sony earlier than they could with the PC version (which only went up the night before release), and since the full secret ending was only filmed in the last week or two before release they may not have been able to get it in in time. So, they went with a shorter version without any of the props just so they could have something.

Anyone with a PS4 able to confirm this?

I played on a PS4 and got the longer version

The short one is from pre-final copies. You can also hear that the audio logs are Blow's voice in that youtube video.

Yeah, its prob from that build that some people played last year

 

[xir]

I'd also like the reset at the end makes me think of the cumulative way knowledge works. If you started from zero today, without language, math, science, it would be hard to make a fire, a car, a video game.

Our knowledge cumulates in the game, merging tetris puzzles with the stars, etc, but it ultimately, in the game, can't go any further, we can't make our puzzles, put what our knowledge to work, so the loop is closed.

Anyone play The Magic Circle? The end game puzzle

Spoiler

where you create a level of a game

tries to step outside of that, even if it's in the end algorithmically scored.

 

[Neoweee]

So, "done" done with the game, i.e. the secret achievement, without a guide or help. The only thing that I was spoiled on, of the things I have done, is what to do once you've lit the 11th laser (which I likely would have found somewhat quickly?)

I'll still go hunting for world puzzles, but all of the major challenges are done. 1 of what I think leads to a video clip was spoiled for me, but I brute forced two of the Jungle puzzles anyway and have absolutely no tolerance for that type of puzzle.

Great game. Crappy story? I'm totally interested in seeing what else people uncover over the coming weeks.

And the heart drawing/tree section. What gives? Was there anything meaningful there? I have an elaborate drawing of the veins in my notebook now, but it was used for nothing. NOTHING


So, uh... how does Talos Principle stack up to this? I hear the puzzles are a bit more tedious?

 

[Talka]

I strongly suspect there's no "secret story" to the game. It's supposed to be experiential.

I never realized the lake was important. That's a clever way to hide a map.

Someone in this thread said a statue on the lake changes its position over the course of the game, maybe to denote progress or playtime? Has anyone tried a speedrun of the game yet? Seems silly to speedrun a puzzle game, but who knows.

 

[Feep]

So, uh... how does Talos Principle stack up to this? I hear the puzzles are a bit more tedious?

- Less beautiful
- Much more coherent story
- Has (good) music

I think I'm giving Talos the slight edge because I can't stand Blow's pretentious story-nonsense. But both are fantastic games, and Talos should *definitely* be on the list of everyone currently in this thread.

 

[Talka]

- Less beautiful
- Much more coherent story
- Has (good) music

I think I'm giving Talos the slight edge because I can't stand Blow's pretentious story-nonsense. But both are fantastic games, and Talos should *definitely* be on the list of everyone currently in this thread.

It's funny because Talos' story was also pretentious and impenetrable. It's just The Witness manages somehow to top that by not having any narrative at all.

I did find the puzzles in The Witness to be more satisfying. Talos had a lot more filler... I'd get bored by a game mechanic long before that game mechanic stopped showing up.

And the island in The Witness is gorgeous. It has a real sense of "place," if that makes sense.

 

[Mistle]

Someone on reddit said they've got 3 different video lengths? Short when finishing without any puzzles solved, long when having some puzzles solved, and longer when solved pretty much everything.

Not sure if this is true/replicable, but if so it means that short video isn't just from an early build.

 

[Feep]

It's funny because Talos' story was also pretentious and impenetrable. It's just The Witness manages somehow to top that by not having any narrative at all.

Some of it was a bit pretentious, but nothing like Blow. Characters are present in the world and speak coherently about their situation...Alexandra Drennan, for example. There's direct interaction and the terminal stuff was novel to me.

The Witness is a nearly random collection of quotes and clips that he theoretically thought was interesting, except for the final few audio logs in the cave. It's all nonsense.

 

[Shrike Alvaron]

Someone on reddit said they've got 3 different video lengths? Short when finishing without any puzzles solved, long when having some puzzles solved, and longer when solved pretty much everything.

Not sure if this is true/replicable, but if so it means that short video isn't just from an early build.

Unless they seriously bothered to hide two other ending videos within a package file yet leave the one as seen in this video in the normal video directory... No. Here's the folder contents showing all the Bink videos included with the game. The one secret ending, plus the six hexagon theater videos. The Streaming folder is empty, and note that the audio is stored separately from the videos, hence the separate .bk2 and .ogg files. Presumably so the game can easier do processing to the audio.

 

[Remembrance]

The Witness is a nearly random collection of quotes and clips that he theoretically thought was interesting, except for the final few audio logs in the cave. It's all nonsense.

Actually, I found it remarkable how they assembled a collection of quotes from utterly different people throughout history that all come together to form an internally consistent idea.

We are missing the point when we search for something beyond the "now" - something that cannot be perceived (like the "builder of this house"). The goal of the game is acceptance of what is there, not demanding satisfaction from something that is not there.

The puzzles work the same way! When we impose imagined rules on them, they don't work. We only beat the game by putting away our preconceived notions and accepting only what the game shows us - nothing more.

 

[The Illiterati]

Just for everyone's information, I was one of the ones who found the secret sun door within five minutes of the game being released. The fmv ending was the same then as it was when I loaded it after 11 lasers being lit.

However, I'm pretty sure the path with the man and the goblet falling were not there. I may be wrong but I really don't remember them being there.

As a side note, Tim from Braid's constant drinking of wine feels very thematically similar to many of the statues.

Also, can someone detail who each of the theater videos is about?

 

[Remembrance]

Also, can someone detail who each of the theater videos is about?

I guess you're talking about 2, 5, and 6, since 1, 3, and 4 are pretty clearly credited?

2 is one of these: http://www.cornell.edu/video/playlist/richard-feynman-messenger-lectures

I'll have to search up some quotes from 5 and 6.

By the way, can anyone explain those three panels from the Challenge? I noticed that they change to the beat of the music, but what was the meaning of the circles blocking you from using the panels?

 

[Neoweee]

By the way, can anyone explain those three panels from the Challenge? I noticed that they change to the beat of the music, but what was the meaning of the circles blocking you from using the panels?

That is a very good question. It could just me a way of saying "The beat is moving and changing the puzzles", but there could be some secret encoded in it.

 

[Mistle]

By the way, can anyone explain those three panels from the Challenge? I noticed that they change to the beat of the music, but what was the meaning of the circles blocking you from using the panels?

read somewhere it was a clock, maybe a countdown? i'll try and find the post.

 

[Remembrance]

read somewhere it was a clock, maybe a countdown? i'll try and find the post.

THAT'S IT.

Minutes on the left panel, seconds on the middle, fractions of seconds on the right? Or at least close enough.

Imagine if you actually had to figure that out. It could be a whole game of Riven-sized proportions in itself.

Okay, how about the white flowers? You go so far out of the way to find some of them. And there's a cluster of them in an X shape near the windmill.

 

[Aurongel]

Just beat it and got the secret ending.

So... This is all an elaborate jab at people who try to seek out reason in things that have none, right? The FMV ending was so self indulgent and up its' own ass that I took it as satire in much of the way that Room 237 was. It's just so vague that there really isn't anything concrete to latch onto which is something even Braid's story managed to hint at.

Either this game is the biggest try-hard failure at depth of any game I've ever played or its one of the most brilliant satires of art house and the interpretation of it.

I CANT DECIDE.

 

[Remembrance]

Just beat it and got the secret ending.

So... This is all an elaborate jab at people who try to seek out reason in things that have none, right? The FMV ending was so self indulgent and up its' own ass that I took it as satire in much of the way that Room 237 was. It's just so vague that there really isn't anything concrete to latch onto which is something even Braid's story managed to hint at.

Either this game is the biggest try-hard failure at depth of any game I've ever played or its one of the most brilliant satires of art house and the interpretation of it.

I CANT DECIDE.

Videos 5 and 6 straight up tell you that you will be better off if you don't seek, but instead accept what is there.

It's pretty remarkable that they found these past speeches by unrelated outside people that reinforce the same message.

 

[Belfast]

I don't think its try-hard at all. One of the audio logs does imply that Blow and Co. realized it could quickly go up its own ass. But that aside, I think there is a major bias (even amongst people who play video games), that they can or rather should not explore deep and complex ideas, and that when they do, it is somehow less genuine.

Perhaps it simply the idea that they are games despite the idea, as The Witness points out several times, games/riddles/puzzles/conundrums/etc. have, throughout history, been extremely important to the development of human culture. Sometimes they simply introduce us to new ways of solving problems, other times they can be intense thought experiments with any number of outcomes/answers (or none at all). As in the audio log about Zen Buddhism, the point of "impossble" questions is not to find a solution, but instead to send yourself into a temporary existential crisis. When you come out the other end, perhaps you don't have an answer, but you are better equipped to deal with the fact that there is no answer.

In my opinion, and I feel by creating The Witness that Blow may agree, "video games" more than any form of media in the past, is actually *better* equipped to address these thought due to their interactive nature. Some games may attempt to deal with deep issues through a ham-fisted storyline, but I think its the absence of a particular storyline here that allows the depth of what a video game can offer philosophically to take center stage.

Some people are inevitably feel like Blow went a few steps too far, but then again, this is the kind of thing where you get as much out of it as you want to put in. If you have a concept of what it *should* be, that's probably how you're going to continue to view it once you're done, but if you experience the game with as few preconceived notions as possible and are open to the thoughts and ideas it puts in front of you, then I feel it can result in a much deeper experience.

 

[Remembrance]

If you have a concept of what it *should* be, that's probably how you're going to continue to view it once you're done, but if you experience the game with as few preconceived notions as possible and are open to the thoughts and ideas it puts in front of you, then I feel it can result in a much deeper experience.

Which, again, is exactly how the puzzles work as well! People who come to them with preconceived ideas of what the rules are have a much worse time, because they will mentally rebel against any evidence contrary to their preconceived rules.

People who bring no preconceived ideas in the first place can get around those mental blocks and reach the actual solutions much more easily.

 

[chrominance]

Still have to find three of the videos, but I must say I never thought I'd see James Burke's Connections in a video game.

 

[Dan]

That makes some sense given the talk of "most favored nation" status, etc. during the Sagan clip, as if this project is some massive, multi-national collaboration. Launch up the VR pods/connections, and see who plugs in.

Huh?

That was just about most favored nation clauses in contract law related to licensing material. Simple as that. They couldn't afford to get a desired Sagan piece because it was both expensive and would have contractually obligated them to pay out more for the other licensed works.

I don't think that's some veiled information about the nature of the in-game project.

 

[Belfast]

Which, again, is exactly how the puzzles work as well! People who come to them with preconceived ideas of what the rules are have a much worse time, because they will mentally rebel against any evidence contrary to their preconceived rules.

People who bring no preconceived ideas in the first place can get around those mental blocks and reach the actual solutions much more easily.

Right. And Blow's message seems to be to let go of your preconceived notions. Once you are confronted with difficulty, or an inconsistency (in the game or in life), do not hopelessly stick to what you already think you know. You should always question what you know, but never assume that you have all the answers.

And I think there are (at least) two types of people in this world, those who would be comfortable with not knowing everything (inquisitive types) and those who are fearful of the unknown and cling to potentially false ideas.

I don't want to pigeonhole anyone by saying they are steadfastly one or the other. In fact, despite my previous statement, I rather believe that most of us are somewhere in-between. We all have some thoughts and ideas we consider to be sacred, just some of us seem to have a lot more of them than others.

 

[opticalmace]

Just finished it at 7 lasers.

So, so good. Definitely going back to clear out all the stuff I missed.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

I am starting to think there must be some huge easter egg beyond what we all know or heard about so far

at least I hope so