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Fez (XBLA)|OT| If you have no interest in discussing the game, don't enter the thread
- Thread starter Yamibito
- Start date
grindamasta
Member
Phil Fish yesterday's speech at Gamelab:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LG1fOOUSOw
He talks about the launch of Fez, working with Microsoft, Fez coming to other platforms...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LG1fOOUSOw
He talks about the launch of Fez, working with Microsoft, Fez coming to other platforms...
The patch was pulled from XBL a few days ago, so you'll be fine as long as you avoid the already existing problems.
Sooo... started playing this again. I only have 2 anti-cubes but have like 13 cubes. I have no idea where to start with the hidden "code" (the block language?). I'm assuming there's some sort of translation key for it? I don't want to look it up, but is there some sort of hint that could get me on the right track so I can figure it out myself? I just got to the screen with a bunch of neon signs and the polytron logo on the water tower.
Jedeye Sniv
Banned
There is a room far down one of the paths that contains elements from a common phrase that once decoded contain every letter of the alphabet.
tbh I'm in awe of everyone that worked it out since I never would have gotten there myself. If I were you, I'd play a little (or a lot) more by yourself - get the first ending, experience the other puzzles a bit and see if it clicks. It's mostly non-essential, there are other codes (that you won't yet even realise are codes) that have far more impact on puzzle-solving that you will come across more naturally.
AFAIK you can get all the gold cubes without any silly business though, that's all platforming iirc.
Jedeye Sniv
Banned
I watched this last night and enjoyed it, it's interesting to hear someone talking about this little-mentioned stuff. From what he said, it seems Steam is being highly considered, but hopefully he'll port to iPad too. I would kill for this on iPad.
Aw, man. So I can't progress further without running the risk of my save being blown away by the next patch? Great.
Jedeye Sniv
Banned
I can't imagine that it would happen again, that would be so awful.
Thanks, I'll keep chugging along. I really don't want to just look it up, so I'll focus on gold cubes for now.
Got the game last night after playing the demo. Really cool, and I always love games with this kind of visual style and art direction.
I have around 18 cubes or so, thus far. I also have something like 5 or 6 anti-cubes. What are anti-cubes for, exactly? I vaguely remember the game describing their purpose when I got the first one, but it slipped my mind. Do they simply supplement your number of total cubes so that you can get through doors with a higher required cube count?
Anyway, really enjoying it.
I have around 18 cubes or so, thus far. I also have something like 5 or 6 anti-cubes. What are anti-cubes for, exactly? I vaguely remember the game describing their purpose when I got the first one, but it slipped my mind. Do they simply supplement your number of total cubes so that you can get through doors with a higher required cube count?
Anyway, really enjoying it.
Dr Zhivago
Member
Basically, yes.
mambadragon
Banned
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mambadragon
Banned
I finally have the time to play through Fez, and since it's been a while since release I'm looking for recommendations on how to play through the game. I bought it on release, but put no more than 2 hours into it and was just doing the platforming/collecting cubes (often after a few beers). I have restarted the game now and want to do a full playthrough.
I've listened to the Giant Bombcast and know there's some surprises with the game (
), so I'm asking what the best way to play through this is. Keep a guide alongside like with Demon/Dark Souls, or is there any hope of figuring it out on my own? I'm very casual with games and I think the only secret I've found on my own playing a game is a few levels in Super Mario World when I was in grade school.
I've listened to the Giant Bombcast and know there's some surprises with the game (
I've heard the term 'alphabet' beyond the word I know nothing. I also know to pay to try to pay attention to the icons.
I'd say go with no guides whatsoever, because it gives the best satisfaction when you've solved things for yourself. If you're stuck on something, leave it and come back, if you're still truly stuck somewhere you can ask about it here.
I can. Those Canadian developers, eh.
mambadragon
Banned
I'm enjoying being LTTP with this game, but I'm having a weird experience with my prior "knowledge" of the game, specifically the vague stuff the Giant Bomb podcast talked about.
Should I just continue exploring and trying to find more cubes, or should I have had some revelation by now? I think I've hyped myself up about possible twists in this game, and if there is something I'll probably never figure it out on my own. So I keep wondering if I'm at the point where I should consult a guide, or should I just continue like I am.
The knowledge I have is that there's a mid-game change to the game. I currently have maybe 26 total cubes (including 5 or 6 anticubes I found by solving puzzles). I know 32 cubes is the next goal, but I'm just asking to look if I'm still approaching this right. From the Bombcast, I've heard the spoilers of an "alphabet" (but I know nothing beyond the word itself) and to pay attention to the icons (which I've made no sense of. I see a lot of owls and I've learned the plural is a parliament but that's literally all I know). So right now, I'm just looking at the map and seeing what areas are not gold, and then exploring these areas trying to find more cube with no plan of attack. So I'm continuing with the game as a platformer.
Should I just continue exploring and trying to find more cubes, or should I have had some revelation by now? I think I've hyped myself up about possible twists in this game, and if there is something I'll probably never figure it out on my own. So I keep wondering if I'm at the point where I should consult a guide, or should I just continue like I am.
da_stabbah
Member
Any news on an update / patch?
I've given up. I don't know if I want to play 80 percent of the game all over again either. Pretty disappointed.
SteveWinwood
Member
I was just about to make a thread for that, but it's in here, and theres nothing concrete there. So... yeah I won't make it.
da_stabbah
Member
maybe he should quit freaking talking at conferences and get back to work on fixing the flipping game we all paid for.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
What a fun game.
I'm stuck just under 200% completion. 30/32 Anticubes, 32/32 Cubes
What I have left to do:
- The two slowest hands in the clock room -- I think one is every day and one is every week? I'll have to test different timings to see.
- The room with the floating black obelisk thing -- I have absolutely no idea what to do here.
- The room with eight language blocks on the floor -- I assume I'm going to have to decipher the language for this.
- The observatory -- Already did the Tetris pattern in there, but there's still something left. I tried pressing buttons on the controller along with the blinking red lights in the sky on one of the observatory areas, but that didn't do anything.
And obviously...
- The 64 cube door
I'm guessing since I already got two anticubes from the clock, the last two I need are from the clock... but then what the hell are the other three rooms for?
I'm stuck just under 200% completion. 30/32 Anticubes, 32/32 Cubes
What I have left to do:
- The two slowest hands in the clock room -- I think one is every day and one is every week? I'll have to test different timings to see.
- The room with the floating black obelisk thing -- I have absolutely no idea what to do here.
- The room with eight language blocks on the floor -- I assume I'm going to have to decipher the language for this.
- The observatory -- Already did the Tetris pattern in there, but there's still something left. I tried pressing buttons on the controller along with the blinking red lights in the sky on one of the observatory areas, but that didn't do anything.
And obviously...
- The 64 cube door
I'm guessing since I already got two anticubes from the clock, the last two I need are from the clock... but then what the hell are the other three rooms for?
Jedeye Sniv
Banned
Dude you are so close. IIRC, I did the clock room by experimenting with my xbox clock. I'm fairly sure the blinking lights in the observatory are a controller code, try it again. And the obelisk you may have to use a walkthrough for - I think the only way the community worked it out was brute force, the clues don't add up properly for it.
If I were you I'd cheat for the last few and just enjoy the ending. Make sure you go back through the 32 cube door when you've finished, that triggers the second ending. I didn't do this and so thought the 64 cube door was a massive anticlimax. It wasn't till a month later that I had the idea to go through the 'ending' door again, which I promptly did and had another epileptic fit.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
The clock room I'm going to wait it out.
I think that Green should get to the top around midnight and Gray should get to the top around 2PM tomorrow, so shouldn't be too long.
Okay I'll try to put more time into that.
Edit: Yeah, just kept tapping away to the pattern and I got it, not sure why I didn't last time. Must be a specific time during the night? The pattern seems to go on a super long time. But it's not an anti-cube, it's a...
red cube?! What the hell?
Ugh. I really, really don't want to cheat. Is it 100% confirmed that there is no way to do it based on clues in the game?
So, I decoded the alphabet. I found the, uh,
room with the fox and the dog! Very clever
I decoded the slab to:
PLEASE ANSWER THIS SECURITY QUESTION: WHATS MY NAME
SECURITY QUESTION HINT MY FIRST HALF IS WHAT IT IS MY SECOND HALF IS HALF OF WHAT MADE IT
SECURITY QUESTION HINT MY FIRST HALF IS WHAT IT IS MY SECOND HALF IS HALF OF WHAT MADE IT
The blocks on the ground rotate when I flip, and the set that I see by default is:
MNQSNOHL
GTZMTUNF
FBIHAEHS
YTCBGXBAX
I ran all four of those through an anagram solver and nothing, so I'm assuming I need to rotate a few of the blocks to even be able to spell the word.
I'm not really sure what the name would be. I thought the clue for the second half might be "Poly" or "Tron" ("
half of what made it
I figured that, since in the first ending you see the cube fill up and it doesn't get all the way there, so I figured having 64 cubes would fill it up.
YianGaruga
Banned
With the exception of the clock, which is pretty basic, you only have the three hardest puzzles of the game left to do.
I feel it's really hard to give hints on them without giving away too much, the black monolith definitely wasn't solved legitimately by anyone yet, last time I checked. So just cheat on that, but do it last.
I wish I could play this game again for the first time. I think it's my GOTY.
That's how I solved it, too. Pretty much accidentally. The REAL solution is much more interesting and I don't think a lot of people solved it that way.
BIG HINT (don't look if you want to think about it more):
Binary
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
I was thinking morse code with maybe left being a short dash and right being a long dash, but my girlfriend is away on a trip so I didn't have anyone at the house to take notes on it and the blinking pattern was too fast and too long to memorize in one go.
So based on your spoiler, I'm guessing
left is off and right is on or vice versa, and then you convert binary to ASCII? How long is the pattern? It took me like 20 or 25 LT/RT with the beat to get it done, so that'd have to be enormous, like easily 150+ pulses... holy crap
YianGaruga
Banned
Yeah that's right.
If I remember right there are 96 bits in the message. It's kind of unfortunate that the actual RT/LT input is included in that code though. The puzzle would've been way harder otherwise.
If you want another tough nut to crack, the book that you can look through in your inventory can be decoded, although it took the whole internet a week or two until someone cracked the code.
You really should've played the game when it came out, it was a crazy time, trying to figure out the book and the monolith. Some people even looked at the soundtrack that was released a little after the game and found pictures after opening the files in a spectrogram, but nothing worked. :/
Sadly we had to brute force it in the end and I don't think Phil Fish even said how the solution of the BM is actually supposed to be found. It was kind of a letdown.
At least you still have one last puzzle to look forward to, and you're not far off.
They put the patch back up. If you download this game new now you will not run into the save bug.
Just booted it up and downloaded the patch. I wonder if this will fix the problems I was having...
Edit: Seems like it did. Now I just need to remember what this game was all about...
Phonomezer
Banned
"The save file appears to be damaged and cannot be loaded"
Oh...
Oh...
Steve McQueen
Member
Any word about this game coming to other platforms? Thought Phil Fish talked about that earlier this year. Loved the game on 360. It's my GOTY
CecilRousso
Member
The game locks up when I try and load my game now. Stuck on the loading screen, and the loading indicator (the cube) doesn't move. Save corrupt?
Edit: Nevermind, found the workaround.
Edit: Nevermind, found the workaround.
CecilRousso
Member
I´m not sure how much I`m supposed to figure out in this game by myself. I got 22 normal cubes and 3 anti-cubes by myself, without looking up anything in solutions.
As I understand it, there are some puzzles that I should look at the community for help with, but right now I think I would feel a bit guilty about googling solutions and similiar stuff.
I got the impression that it should be fairly easy to get the 32 normal cubes by yourself, howlongtobeat has it listed as being beatable in 5 hours, but I must say I feel a bit stuck now. :\
I haven't solved the secret at lighthouse, the secret with the clock, the secret with watertower, haven't found out how to reach the the door behind the waterfall, similiar stuff.
Anyone who based on that can give me a hint what to look for next?
As I understand it, there are some puzzles that I should look at the community for help with, but right now I think I would feel a bit guilty about googling solutions and similiar stuff.
I got the impression that it should be fairly easy to get the 32 normal cubes by yourself, howlongtobeat has it listed as being beatable in 5 hours, but I must say I feel a bit stuck now. :\
I haven't solved the secret at lighthouse, the secret with the clock, the secret with watertower, haven't found out how to reach the the door behind the waterfall, similiar stuff.
Anyone who based on that can give me a hint what to look for next?
Head north. Look very closely for doors you may have missed.
theMrCravens
Member
I have a similar question.
Areas with "secrets" but without cubes, what the hell does it mean ?
Am I suppose to press something ?
Don't want to spoil it with guides, but I need a headstart.
Areas with "secrets" but without cubes, what the hell does it mean ?
Am I suppose to press something ?
Don't want to spoil it with guides, but I need a headstart.
You'll find out in time, just don't worry about it for now. You don't need a head start, you simply need to progress further into the game.
CecilRousso
Member
Not sure if that helps that much. When I look at the map, there are very few black areas left, and most seem to be accessible only through pretty difficult puzzles. And now I´m right now only looking to get the first 32 cubes.
The main hub has one accesible area that I haven't reached, but I´m guessing I need to to lower the water to reach that one?
Jedeye Sniv
Banned
As a clue - there a four very distinct worlds in the game, and exploring them completely will yeild all of the normal yellow cubes. The blue anti cubes are all more complex puzzles that should become apparent organically as you play the game.
I was in a very similar place to you, all it took was discovering a single door I'd overlooked and I found whole worlds I'd never thought were there.
CecilRousso
Member
Yep, I think that's what I missed now also.
I´m looking at the main hub for example, where there are exits to the light house, to the bell area, to the waterfall and to the ruins. And there is yet another one that I haven't reached, but I´m guessing that's part of a trickier puzzle.
Finally started playing this. Really enjoying it. The Philip Glass-like music is a very nice touch.
The map was overwhelming at first look but one of the first things I did was start to glance at it regularly and it's made the first hour a lot less confusing, I'm sure. After going through a bunch of doors I realized I had to orient myself.
I'm going along at a nice clip and don't think I've missed anything so far, but there are a few areas with apparent secrets that I just can't find. Is it impossible to find everything as you go? Do I need to return later on with special knowledge or items?
Also... Please tell me there's an auto save... I have no idea how to save my game and am afraid of quitting. No idea what the save bug is either.
The map was overwhelming at first look but one of the first things I did was start to glance at it regularly and it's made the first hour a lot less confusing, I'm sure. After going through a bunch of doors I realized I had to orient myself.
I'm going along at a nice clip and don't think I've missed anything so far, but there are a few areas with apparent secrets that I just can't find. Is it impossible to find everything as you go? Do I need to return later on with special knowledge or items?
Also... Please tell me there's an auto save... I have no idea how to save my game and am afraid of quitting. No idea what the save bug is either.
To answer your questions, there are secrets you won't be able to find/solve as you go through the game at first so don't worry too much about rooms with no apparent puzzles. The game auto-saves and the bug won't affect anyone starting a new game after the last patch, it only affected a few people who had a save in progress when the patch was applied. You'll be fine.
So I finally bit the bullet, being someone that loves puzzle platformers but didn't have time when Fez came out last year...and I gotta say I'm really disappointed. I wanted to love Fez a lot was quite hyped when I first saw it ages ago, but this is just NOT what I'm looking for in this kind of game, surely I'm not alone in that?
To me the super obscure Myst-like puzzles that almost entirely revolve around cryptography have so little to do with any platforming or stretching my mind in any kind of enjoyable way, there are BASICALLY like 3 puzzles in the game, figuring out numbers, letters, and tetris blocks, and once I realized those were what I had to do, the entire game fell flat for me. Translating code is nothing but tedium imo As far as what I'd consider actual platforming puzzles there were so few, and most were super trivial. I have zero shame in just looking up the answers as far as translations go, since once you do it the first time it just becomes a matter of fact that you'll get them given time.
Things I enjoyed:
-The traditional platforming type puzzles (The sewer where you have to get the platform onto the rotating pivot by abusing the movement of the planes for instance).
-The negative space randomly affecting areas, since they were clearly designed to still be traversed with it it was fun to figure out how to go about doing that (sort of like a...puzzle!)
-Figuring out HOW to figure out the languages
-Tuning forks
Things I thought were pretentious and a waste of time
-The 9000 rooms where you have to actually translate things
-The QR codes
-the slippery feel to platforming and jumping in general. It almost makes me glad there isn't anything super difficult in this regard.
-Related to above, the fall distance that Gomez dies at is so short, it's helpful when going up because otherwise the slippery control would cause you to lose progress more often, but it makes going DOWN a stage almost impossible or ACTUALLY impossible far too often. Sometimes it'd be a lot faster not to port back, if it weren't an exercise in frustration just to backtrack naturally.
-The clock. dumb.
All in all, I just feel like way too much of the game relies on this one single gimmick, and that although the puzzle of figuring it out was well crafted and implemented (the classroom and the lightup monolith thing were great), almost every real puzzle in the game is completely reliant upon it. Where's the variety? It's like a bait and switch to me to bill the game as a puzzle platformer when the vast majority of the puzzles consist purely of having a written key and just decoding based on that then entering a button sequence.
To me the super obscure Myst-like puzzles that almost entirely revolve around cryptography have so little to do with any platforming or stretching my mind in any kind of enjoyable way, there are BASICALLY like 3 puzzles in the game, figuring out numbers, letters, and tetris blocks, and once I realized those were what I had to do, the entire game fell flat for me. Translating code is nothing but tedium imo
As far as what I'd consider actual platforming puzzles there were so few, and most were super trivial. I have zero shame in just looking up the answers as far as translations go, since once you do it the first time it just becomes a matter of fact that you'll get them given time.Things I enjoyed:
-The traditional platforming type puzzles (The sewer where you have to get the platform onto the rotating pivot by abusing the movement of the planes for instance).
-The negative space randomly affecting areas, since they were clearly designed to still be traversed with it it was fun to figure out how to go about doing that (sort of like a...puzzle!)
-Figuring out HOW to figure out the languages
-Tuning forks
Things I thought were pretentious and a waste of time
-The 9000 rooms where you have to actually translate things
-The QR codes
-the slippery feel to platforming and jumping in general. It almost makes me glad there isn't anything super difficult in this regard.
-Related to above, the fall distance that Gomez dies at is so short, it's helpful when going up because otherwise the slippery control would cause you to lose progress more often, but it makes going DOWN a stage almost impossible or ACTUALLY impossible far too often. Sometimes it'd be a lot faster not to port back, if it weren't an exercise in frustration just to backtrack naturally.
-The clock. dumb.
All in all, I just feel like way too much of the game relies on this one single gimmick, and that although the puzzle of figuring it out was well crafted and implemented (the classroom and the lightup monolith thing were great), almost every real puzzle in the game is completely reliant upon it. Where's the variety? It's like a bait and switch to me to bill the game as a puzzle platformer when the vast majority of the puzzles consist purely of having a written key and just decoding based on that then entering a button sequence.
Jedeye Sniv
Banned
So I finally bit the bullet, being someone that loves puzzle platformers but didn't have time when Fez came out last year...and I gotta say I'm really disappointed. I wanted to love Fez a lot was quite hyped when I first saw it ages ago, but this is just NOT what I'm looking for in this kind of game, surely I'm not alone in that?
To me the super obscure Myst-like puzzles that almost entirely revolve around cryptography have so little to do with any platforming or stretching my mind in any kind of enjoyable way, there are BASICALLY like 3 puzzles in the game, figuring out numbers, letters, and tetris blocks, and once I realized those were what I had to do, the entire game fell flat for me. Translating code is nothing but tedium imo
Things I enjoyed:
-The traditional platforming type puzzles (The sewer where you have to get the platform onto the rotating pivot by abusing the movement of the planes for instance).
-The negative space randomly affecting areas, since they were clearly designed to still be traversed with it it was fun to figure out how to go about doing that (sort of like a...puzzle!)
-Figuring out HOW to figure out the languages
-Tuning forks
Things I thought were pretentious and a waste of time
-The 9000 rooms where you have to actually translate things
-The QR codes
-the slippery feel to platforming and jumping in general. It almost makes me glad there isn't anything super difficult in this regard.
-Related to above, the fall distance that Gomez dies at is so short, it's helpful when going up because otherwise the slippery control would cause you to lose progress more often, but it makes going DOWN a stage almost impossible or ACTUALLY impossible far too often. Sometimes it'd be a lot faster not to port back, if it weren't an exercise in frustration just to backtrack naturally.
-The clock. dumb.
All in all, I just feel like way too much of the game relies on this one single gimmick, and that although the puzzle of figuring it out was well crafted and implemented (the classroom and the lightup monolith thing were great), almost every real puzzle in the game is completely reliant upon it. Where's the variety? It's like a bait and switch to me to bill the game as a puzzle platformer when the vast majority of the puzzles consist purely of having a written key and just decoding based on that then entering a button sequence.
I had a similar reaction to you when I started playing the game, and it was actually the cryptography elements that made the game really fun for me. I enjoyed the exploration and the sense at times that you were breaking the game world (even though it was all designed so). And when I actually worked out the codes there was a wonderful sense of revelation and of seeing the world through new eyes.
I think the platforming was a lot more interesting than you say as well, there were sections that were really tricky and mindbendy, and gave a nice sense of satisfaction once I'd traversed them. But still, the sense of the unknown and the layers of understanding were what made the game great to me.
