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The Witness |OT|
- Thread starter Afro
- Start date
Did you solve all the orchard puzzles with apples and branches? Try to think about those as well when approaching this one.
Big-ass Ramp
hella bullets that's true
no I didn't. maybe that's my problem?
Consider the puzzle area that you're in as a whole - as an environmental nudge, is it
pristine and as-new, or does it look like a shadow of its former self, dilapidated and unmaintained?
Big-ass Ramp
hella bullets that's true
god I got it. I was so fucking close.
thank you Stampy, Rodney McKay, CarbonFire, Noaloha.
I really appreciate it
thank you Stampy, Rodney McKay, CarbonFire, Noaloha.
I really appreciate it
Chuckie
Member
Ok I need help guys...Normally tutorial panels work very well for me. I understand the rules and I can start solving puzzles.
There seems to be an exception though. The ones in the quarry. The symbol with the three branches. I have no idea whatsoever what the rule is supposed to be.
There seems to be an exception though. The ones in the quarry. The symbol with the three branches. I have no idea whatsoever what the rule is supposed to be.
Thinking back to that, is the tutorial puzzle in question a 2x2 square with a dot-on-line in one corner and the three-prong in the opposite square?
If so, you really only have a handful of possible solutions in that tiny panel. At that early stage, if you can't infer how the symbol might be applied, just focus on trying as many different varieties of solution as you can. I promise after just half a dozen different lines, you'll stumble on a completion. At that point the actual puzzle is looking at the panel and figuring out why that worked when the others did not.
PayOffWizard
Member
Am i the only one that somehow manages to miss the introduction puzzles and then spends an hour on an advanced version when i have no idea what I'm doing?
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
They override one "failure". These puzzles expect you to make a mistake on purpose. For example, if you had the tri branch symbol with two white squares and a black square, the black square would be cancelled.
Rodney McKay
Member
Definitely one of the most interesting puzzle concepts in the game IMO. Try my hint first and if you absolutely can't do it then just look at the answer.
Hint:
Listen and observe to an easy tutorial puzzle when you solve it (maybe not the first one, but the second or third if you've gotten that far).
Straight up what the symbol does:
You have to purposefully get one thing WRONG boxed in with the symbol for it to activate correctly.
I definitely missed a bunch of them. I kept running into
Tetris
crooked pieces
OrbitalBeard
Member
So, how many of you finished the game without looking up a single hint or solution?
I tip my hat to any of you that were able to pull that off. I've asked for a few hints in this thread and I'm ashamed to say I looked at the solution to one puzzle. : (
I tip my hat to any of you that were able to pull that off. I've asked for a few hints in this thread and I'm ashamed to say I looked at the solution to one puzzle. : (
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
I asked for hints frequently, only looked up the bird noise puzzles because they were giving me a killer migraine.
My best tip to anyone getting stuck would be to just move along and venture somewhere else. It's fascinating what fresh eyes and new perspective can sometimes bring. Even if you already know all the rules to the hard puzzle. Just moving away from it, and coming back in a day or two does wonders.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
Yeah. My progress in the game was weird, I didn't activate any lasers for like the first three days, then in the last two I activated the majority of them because I was just a few puzzles away on multiple.
Wok
Member
I did.
No hints for me. Tiny one from my brother for the shipwreck door, but otherwise I stuck it out all the way.
Why play a puzzle game if you're just going to look up the answers? For me personally, that'd defeat the point. Somebody said it's like playing Mario and using the super leaf or whatever it's called- I'd agree. I got stuck heaps of times, but walking away and coming back, experimenting, and sleeping on it, all seemed to be the solution for finally moving forward.
Rodney McKay
Member
Depending on the puzzle, I sometimes don't feel guilty at all about looking up the answer.
If I completely understand the rules and mechanics of a puzzle but just can't get my brain to solve it, I don't feel bad about looking it up. It's like trying to solve a Rubiks cube or those slide-y picture puzzles, I know I'm suppose to get all the colors on one side or make the tiles form a picture, but my brain just can't do those puzzles well enough to solve them without trial and error.
If a puzzle COMPLETELY stumps me and I look up the answer without knowing the rules of the area and I don't even know how or why the answer I looked up is correct, THEN I feel shitty.
To help my brain out on some of the harder puzzles (especially ones that have 2-3 concepts happening at the same time) I'll take out my phone, take a picture of the screen, and draw over the image (my phone has a stylus which hasn't gotten this much use in ages) first before doing it in the game. That way I can rotate the puzzles to get a different view of things which helps a lot, or I can start from the end and work my way back, or I can draw shapes over the puzzle.
They always follow their own logic; I've never yet found it be inconsistent.
What they sometimes do is not follow what you think their logic is. That's not being dumb, though! The trick is to spot when you made a wrong assumption.
HoodWinked
Member
i did other than someone posting a youtube link for the other ending with barely any spoiler warning. fucking stupid.
Chuckie
Member
Well that could be said about all walkthroughs/solutions etc. Why look up how to get through the Water Temple? That also defeats the point.
The feeling is 'stronger' though when you look something up for this game though...that is true.
But like Rodney said...if you know the rules, but your brain simply cannot handle the puzzle... yeah I'd look it up.
I've not finished yet, but I'm defiant that I shan't look up assistance on any puzzles for the first go through. I understand that there'll be a save game just prior to the game's point-of-no-return conclusion, after which point I'll happily start gobbling up hints for the remaining puzzles that have stumped me.
I wanted to be diligent before tackling the (obviously late-game) mountain-top stuff, so I made sure to get all eleven tasks complete beforehand. There are three panels and a '+'-puzzle I've found that I have not been able to do, at least one of which I suspect I'm just missing something fairly obvious. The four puzzles are (around the shipwreck)
a '+'-puzzle that I can get close to activating by standing at the sofa, but can't quite lock into, and the devious sound/symmetry/colour panel below the waterline
the 'secret' looking door near the shortcut gate, and also the shortcut gate itself -- this last one I can't imagine would be a particularly mindbending puzzle, since it's for a shortcut, but damn, I just can't find any connection that stands out.
My puzzle count (finding/doing) in the 'main game' felt pretty comprehensive though aside from those few (I'm 100% certain there are a ton of +s I didn't catch, obvs). Before heading to the top of the Mountain to tackle the panels up there, I got to 382, +57. I popped the top last night and briefly started tackling the next stage, but had to cut it short as bedtime was looming over me.
buy teh haloz
Banned
It seems like you can straight up skip some of the puzzles blocking doors.
GlamFM
Banned
Sure, there are a bunch of puzzles that just open up shortcuts.
What's the score for that? Which
lasers
Early on I did notice that you can see and operate
the grid for the laser in Shady Trees
getting up very close to the gate. You can't deduce the answer at that point, of course, but I wonder if you can enter it if you already know it?
Also, I would hazard a guess they do the
Keep
would someone mind pointing me in the right direction for this one? I really thought I was on the right track but I'm just not getting the logic.
You're on the right track
Hint:
However, there's something odd about some of those branches, aren't there?
Hint2:
Look down
That's not the tutorial puzzle. The tutorial puzzle is the ramp. I think quite a few people regard that as so trivial that they don't see it's outlining the basic mechanic, and then get stuck on the first one that requires them to understand the symbol.
The way I described it earlier, and the thought processes leading to it:
I did, pretty much. Someone made a too-obvious hint for the third hedge maze in this thread without hiding it behind spoiler tags, so I accidentally saw that, but I didn't actively seek it out, and I don't think I'd have found it too bad. Everything else, done entirely on my own.
That's probably why I'm waxing so lyrical about the puzzle design; it works. I've seen way too many adventure game puzzles that I'd regard as unfair, I've learnt to recognise them, and that was a worry I had going into the game - Blow hasn't really done all that much in this field before, so I was worried it'd be a lot of good intentions with poor delivery. I was wrong.
Big-ass Ramp
hella bullets that's true
I can't tell if I'm having fun or not
Chuckie
Member
RoadHazard
Gold Member
Do those actually lead to anything, or are they just training for something else? Seems like
I did all of them, but they just seemed to lead up to an area with some medical drawings and nothing more to do.
*raises hand*
TropicanaTwista
Member
So what is the the "challenge" that people talk about in this game? Just beat the game, with all lasers and I have no clue what it is or where it is. Plus its the the last trophy I need for the plat.
Wok
Member
Just completed the "Challenge".
Now, I need to
watch the last video... and find out where the (4) 3 missing puzzles are (I have completed 519 520 after unlocking the final video).
Any help on how to use
to find out, or some other way?
Now, I need to
the lake
I am not going to use a guide for the "+" puzzles, it would be too much of a hassle, I will just find some additional ones by luck and that is it. I have 66 "+" so far.
A hidden place in a hidden place in a hidden place.
I did, 522 panels without a hint. I nearly asked for one for the shipwreck puzzle, I spent an embarrassing amount of time on that one.
Honestly I have no problem with people asking for help, hell I like answering questions or giving hints. But I think possibly people underestimate themselves and also beat their head too long against puzzles instead of going to different areas when they are stuck or not taking breaks. The game practically insists you do it, considering there's areas where they will stick a mechanic learned from a different area smack in the middle of what you're doing. You have to learn to detach yourself.
There's so many times I doubted myself or said out loud "that's impossible" as well as "you've got to be fucking kidding me", but still surprised myself by eventually being able to do it. I really enjoy puzzle games, but I almost never take on the hard extra stuff, this being one of the very, very few exceptions. I never even bothered with more than a few of Braid's stars or like half of Talos Principle's stars.
Wind's Howling
Member
I had to stop last night at one of the endgame puzzles once
Stuff like that has nothing to do with intelligence. That is pure bullying.
Blow started to introduce rotating puzzles that increase in speed depending on how far you push the line.
Stuff like that has nothing to do with intelligence. That is pure bullying.
Wok
Member
You have seen nothing yet.
It's only the visuals. IIRC, if you watch the cursor, it's still tracing the grid in the usual way. If you plan your solution in advance, it's not too hard at all. Only took me a few minutes.
Wind's Howling
Member
I was afraid someone would say that.
I know but once you are fatigued such things just do not register anymore.
StopMakingSense
Member
Only tips I looked up involved (bamboo plus other)
audio puzzles, as I had the sound very low as I've been playing late at night while my wife's asleep.
On that note I am mostly done with the endgame and so far has used ZERO notes.
That short panel set is the most "gimmicky" it gets in that area though.
Unfortunately it's also the easiest.
Wind's Howling
Member
I can not also be the only one who had huge
once you reached the endgame, right?
Portal vibes
You are not.
I'm in the Desert now, and I was still thinking about my treehouse problem yesterday. I was thinking that I failed to answer the game's question in that one particular puzzle, which was
It's so blatantly obvious that I didn't see it. I was so fixated on solving it my way, that I was ignoring the question the game was asking. Still weird that the tutorial panel for this concept came after the more complex puzzle, but that was probably the point.
This game is special in so many ways, because you discover your own mistakes in reasoning and stubornness.
For this though I'm glad there's this thread, where you get help without the outright solution. So thanks to all the helpful people here! This thing may read like a CIA doc, but it's damn useful.
I give The Witness and this thread a 10/10
'what happens when a star is alone'. I never put 2 and 2 together in that his companion can be ANY piece of the same color, it doesn't need to be a star. All along I ignored that his companion in the early puzzles happened to be another star.
It's so blatantly obvious that I didn't see it. I was so fixated on solving it my way, that I was ignoring the question the game was asking. Still weird that the tutorial panel for this concept came after the more complex puzzle, but that was probably the point.
This game is special in so many ways, because you discover your own mistakes in reasoning and stubornness.
For this though I'm glad there's this thread, where you get help without the outright solution. So thanks to all the helpful people here! This thing may read like a CIA doc, but it's damn useful.
I give The Witness and this thread a 10/10