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The Witness |OT|

FLEABttn

Banned
Cut out shapes, get legos out, etc. Tetris puzzles become sooooooo much easier once you have something to physically play with on a grid. (I use graph paper and cut out graph paper squares.)

I think I'm going to have to do this because the tetris puzzles are the ones giving me the most amount of trouble where I theoretically know what the rules are. Stuck on the last puzzle of of the third set of puzzles. Not looking for hints yet because I don't feel like I've exhausted my ideas on it but, again, these frustrate me because I kind of know what the rules are but then I hit a new puzzle where I feel like the prior rule explanations don't build well to what the new puzzle is.

I figured out the Desert Ruin yesterday, finally. The puzzles weren't even hard, but
the trick (because that's what it really is)
took a sad amount of time to figure out. It seems a lot of other people didn't have the same problem because the Jungle was like the third area I cleared and half as many have that trophy compared to Desert Ruin.

Also, I don't know if I just haven't been given the in games tools to figure out the Monastery yet but I have no idea. It just feels like there's no tutorial which makes me think I'm just not in far enough yet.
 
Also, I don't know if I just haven't been given the in games tools to figure out the Monastery yet but I have no idea. It just feels like there's no tutorial which makes me think I'm just not in far enough yet.

I did the Monastery right after the pink trees so you can definitely do it.
 

neonille

Member
Guys I found a hidden place where you have to solve it using the triangle mechanic I think, can someone tell me how they work?

If a block has one triangle you must pass one of its side and only one, if it has two triangles you must pass two of it's sides etc...
 

Kaiken

Banned
Guys I found a hidden place where you have to solve it using the triangle mechanic I think, can someone tell me how they work?

You should have ran into quite a few of these panels on the floor throughout the island. Double check how you completed them to better understand how they work
 

KTallguy

Banned
I'm super afraid to read this thread but the game is good!

I will say that sometimes I can't find the tutorial on how to solve something, and I imagine that there are some mechanics that aren't really tutorialized... but like sometimes my mind is twisted in knots trying to figure out things.
 
I'm super afraid to read this thread but the game is good!

I will say that sometimes I can't find the tutorial on how to solve something, and I imagine that there are some mechanics that aren't really tutorialized... but like sometimes my mind is twisted in knots trying to figure out things.

That's a valid complaint early on but
the boat tells where the tutorials are
 

Ansatz

Member
If a block has one triangle you must pass one of its side and only one, if it has two triangles you must pass two of it's sides etc...

that makes sense, I'm trying to solve it but it's complicated

You should have ran into quite a few of these panels on the floor throughout the island. Double check how you completed them to better understand how they work

I have them written down but I'm freaking out atm lol, I think I found something nobody has mentioned yet
 

Owensboro

Member
Alright, I'm at the point where I just need to know if I'm on the right path here. No hints! Just an idea that my thought process is in the right direction.

Need some help on the area after you get enough lasers activated
(inside the mountain), bottom floor after elevator. On that puzzle on the floor with 4 sub-puzzles which turns into one big puzzle: Here is my current notebook setup: http://i.imgur.com/kCZe9d4.jpg. Basically, my thought process is that each of the 4 puzzle solutions has to fit in the bigger puzzle. The part where I'm questioning myself is the anchor point of each 4x4 puzzle. I have the grid set up with them anchored to their respective corner (Top Right puzzle is anchored to the top right corner). Am I on the right track?
 
Just beat the game.

Overall I feel this game does plenty of things right and there is loads of variation to the puzzles but I can not get rid of the feeling that after 300+ panels I absolutely had it with the line drawing.

Not to mention that fun quickly swapped with frustration once you reach the midway point. I seriously would recommend not anyone get fooled by people saying this feels like Portal or Myst. This is absolutely nothing like it and should only be bought by true puzzle enthousiasts.

The game is tiny in its Story and Presentation but makes up for it by having an interesting world to explore and some intelligent usage of the environment in order to complete puzzles.

8.5/10 for me. Nowhere near the perfect game but I am glad I paid 40$ for it. Developers like Blow deserve everything when they step away from the regular AAA pedestal.
 
Holy cow at the
changing color room puzzle
in the town. A quick question about it:

I'm assuming there are three colors on each panel?
 
Holy cow at the
changing color room puzzle
in the town. A quick question about it:

I'm assuming there are three colors on each panel?

There are more than that.

Need some help on the area after you get enough lasers activated
(inside the mountain), bottom floor after elevator. On that puzzle on the floor with 4 sub-puzzles which turns into one big puzzle: Here is my current notebook setup: http://i.imgur.com/kCZe9d4.jpg. Basically, my thought process is that each of the 4 puzzle solutions has to fit in the bigger puzzle. The part where I'm questioning myself is the anchor point of each 4x4 puzzle. I have the grid set up with them anchored to their respective corner (Top Right puzzle is anchored to the top right corner). Am I on the right track?

Each one is anchored in the square that it occupies in the bigger puzzle.
 
Holy cow at the
changing color room puzzle
in the town. A quick question about it:

I'm assuming there are three colors on each panel?

I approached this one by assigning numbers to the fill states associated with each of the three colors, then marking each filled block with its corresponding numbers in my play notebook, one number for each color. That lets you isolate the different unique colors.
 
There's 7 on the left one: Black, Red, Green, Cyan, Purple, Yellow and White

Damn, Only one I could remember was the right one. I knew there was a chance I was wrong though, because I focused more on what ones were the same as each other rather than how many there actually were.
 
(Village)
That was one that seemed basically impossible without writing everything down.

I went back to the bunker and worked out the rules. It was surprisingly straightforward:
Code:
[spoiler]
  R G B
C B W W
M W B W
Y W W B
W W W W
[/spoiler]

If that makes sense.

Edit: Spoiler and code tags don't work like I thought they did. Sorry.
 
I have no patience for the Tetris puzzles and I'm not going to use physical blocks to play a video game. If I can't solve it in my head I'm looking up the solution and calling it a day. Everything else in the game I'm ok with, just not messing with blocks.
 
I approached this one by assigning numbers to the fill states associated with each of the three colors, then marking each filled block with its corresponding numbers in my play notebook, one number for each color. That lets you isolate the different unique colors.

Yep, this is what I plan on doing. My brain will not be able to process all of this info without using a notebook.

Edit - Daaaaamn, finished the left panel. I'll do the right one tomorrow. That gave me a headache haha
 
I have no patience for the Tetris puzzles and I'm not going to use physical blocks to play a video game. If I can't solve it in my head I'm looking up the solution and calling it a day. Everything else in the game I'm ok with, just not messing with blocks.

You're going to end up looking up a lot of solutions then. They're used in a lot of puzzles in other areas as well.
 

Wozman23

Member
I'd been staying away from this thread, but I finally beat this last night.

Some areas tripped me up a bit. I'm assuming I learned the Desert backwards since
I didn't realize the glare puzzles until I worked through one in the Town after unlocking almost everything else.

I made it all the way to the very end before I finally got sick of it resorted to looking up one puzzle solution.
(The ground floor in the mountain with the four small panels that made up the larger puzzle on the floor. Played with it for a while one night, then a while the next day, but was baffled with what it wanted me to do there.)
Everywhere else I managed to figure out how to combine puzzle types but that one really threw me.

The only other thing, which I managed to luck into by brute force and false logic was in the hedge maze.
(The third one where sound is the clue. Would have never got that since I was playing at night on low volume.)

Also had to look up how to get into the challenge area. Tackled all the puzzles around it, now only the challenge is left.

Save file is 476, +24.
 
Just a quick retrospective comment on the game after finishing my 511th puzzle. **END GAME SPOILERS**

The tetromino mechanics ARE the Witness. The rest of the mechanics pale in comparison to the tetromino. They encompass a large majority of all the puzzles in the game. It is JBlow's magnum opus and I think the most brilliantly executed puzzle mechanic I have ever seen.

The revelations of being able to mold shapes with different pieces, then rotating them, then deleting them, then combining them with other machanics like stars and the deleter triangle, are nothing short of thrilling and mindblowing. This single mechanic is so genius in it's depth and inginuity, that it's no wonder Jonathan made it the centerpiece to his game.
 

CheesecakeRecipe

Stormy Grey
I have no patience for the Tetris puzzles and I'm not going to use physical blocks to play a video game. If I can't solve it in my head I'm looking up the solution and calling it a day. Everything else in the game I'm ok with, just not messing with blocks.

They're really the only puzzles I truly can't work out in my head. Even though I would consider myself very visually minded when it comes to just about anything else, operating the Tetrominos throws me off. I think everyone will run into one puzzle type that is incompatible with their way of thinking, which Blow speaks to through the audio logs and their various words of encouragement and letting go of what you think you know. I blew through most of the
treehouse
area and the whole
monastery
in minutes, but there are plenty of people in this thread who struggled there. For our deficiencies, we have to compensate somehow in order to progress. The Tetrominos become very commonplace in mid-to-late game, so hopefully you're at least learning a bit about how they function as you look up the answers, or else you're going to end up looking up the rest of the game at a certain point.

If you're interested, there's an online tool which lets you set up a grid with a handful of the game's mechanics. It's mainly there to assist with the Tetrominos. You can even choose just how much of the puzzle you want solved. So, you can view the opening lines of a solution, but still work out the rest yourself. Or you can continue to walkthrough the answers. Whatever works best for you!
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Had to use a walkthrough for the greenhouse elevator. Not colorblind friendly one bit. I couldn't tell the top left two squares were teal.
 

Cronen

Member
Near end game advice please!
i'm close to getting my 7th tower/beacon. If I go to the mountain and do whatever is up there, am I able to return and do more puzzles? Or if/when the game ends, does it put you back at the beginning?
 

thefil

Member
Near end game advice please!
i'm close to getting my 7th tower/beacon. If I go to the mountain and do whatever is up there, am I able to return and do more puzzles? Or if/when the game ends, does it put you back at the beginning?

It will save your game for you right before you trigger the ending, then will start a new game when you next start the game. You just have to load that save.
 

Sai-kun

Banned
Post-Endgame stuff:
Re: The Challenge

My question is actually more about the walkable space nearby. There are some pathways out of it, one leads to the end of the Desert section, and one emerges from the ground to somewhere, and the puzzle on the door is another triangle puzzle, but despite having the correct solution, it doesn't seem to open. Anyone got this one yet?
 

Feep

Banned
Post-Endgame stuff:
Re: The Challenge

My question is actually more about the walkable space nearby. There are some pathways out of it, one leads to the end of the Desert section, and one emerges from the ground to somewhere, and the puzzle on the door is another triangle puzzle, but despite having the correct solution, it doesn't seem to open. Anyone got this one yet?
You don't have the correct solution, then.
 

2Crisis

Member
Endgame story question

Probably nothing, but anyone get screencaps of the text on the monitors after you 'wake up'?
 

Mindlog

Member
End-Game request. (my only hint request :])
Where do you find the ability to turn the starting gate back on? I've got all the videos.
Pretty sure I have seen everything now except the entirety of one section which I didn't want to spoil myself on (related to the above.) Final Stats
~510/+50 roughly
. Cleaning up puzzles will be something that happens over a long period of time. I'm only missing one puzzle that I know of (post-end game puzzle)
the multi-colored one in the mountain.
Not going to use a guide except for my question above.

First legit tried (post end-game stuff)
the challenge today. I false started three times. Twice I felt like I spent too much time before clearing the per-labyrinth panels and once because the labyrinth solution was a complicated mess. I finished the second pillar just as the final song started playing (an obvious yet enjoyable choice.) I really enjoyed the challenge. The challenge was a wonderful combination of all the mechanics with a great musical kick.

5/5
I made it all the way to the very end before I finally got sick of it resorted to looking up one puzzle solution.
(The ground floor in the mountain with the four small panels that made up the larger puzzle on the floor. Played with it for a while one night, then a while the next day, but was baffled with what it wanted me to do there.)
(end game)
That was one of my favorite puzzles. My process.
Must be symmetrical. Even number of squares.
Wait! The board is 25 squares. Solution must be odd.
It is impossible to get an even piece from the top right.
Therefore bottom left can not be the even square. Odd line.
That leaves only two optional pieces.
That means one row must have 1 square.
That leaves only a handful of solutions.
*solves it*
*double check*
Yeah, that fits.
 

Auctopus

Member
Could someone tell me what the little triangles mean? I thought I knew but now I'm in the challenge room, I seem to be wrong?

its number of sides passed isn't it?
 
End-Game request. (my only hint request :])
Where do you find the ability to turn the starting gate back on? I've got all the videos.
Pretty sure I have seen everything now except the entirety of one section which I didn't want to spoil myself on (related to the above.) Final Stats
~510/+50 roughly
. Cleaning up puzzles will be something that happens over a long period of time. I'm only missing one puzzle that I know of (post-end game puzzle)
the multi-colored one in the mountain.
Not going to use a guide except for my question above.

Hey, I'm missing the same one as you. I've got a screenshot that I look at every once in a while.

Answer:
Search the entire new area you gained access to.
 

Sai-kun

Banned
Could someone tell me what the little triangles mean? I thought I knew but now I'm in the challenge room, I seem to be wrong?

its number of sides passed isn't it?

Yes.

End-Game request. (my only hint request :])
Where do you find the ability to turn the starting gate back on? I've got all the videos.

Since you've found The Challenge room, you should be able to find your way to what you're looking for.
 

Mindlog

Member
Thank you both. Will look around more :]
Hey, I'm missing the same one as you. I've got a screenshot that I look at every once in a while.
Yeah, I'll probably end up looking at my screenshots
I've taken two screenshots with the white lines covering the empty spaces to really make the color gradient stand out against a neutral element
+ solution checking during lunch sometime. Would be much quicker if it flashed red when something was wrong. I intend to slowly get through the ones I am missing. Going to be hard to do without being in-game though...
 

Wok

Member
I'm in the same situation. Here are a few that may be potential issues:

4. There's the puzzle in the purple section of the swamp (though if you have all the + puzzles you probably have this one).

I'm really frustrated at the moment because I swear I've done everything.

What is this?

-There are two against the back of the wall in the quarry tutorial for the propeller.

And this?
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Autumn forest help:
Final panel, inside the gates. All the ones leading up to this have been pretty damn easy, but here I have no idea. I tried looking at the actual tree instead of the unhelpful shadow, but no luck. A hint, please.
 
Took a couple days off after struggling to even get into the mountain, got in and solved all of the first area and I already feel like I need a break again, this area is intense.
 
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