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The Witness |OT|

G

Gong

Member
rudds said:
Much harder than Portal 2, (somewhat) less obscure than Fez. I can't necessarily say Fez is harder since I also gave up on it once it descended into crypto-hell, but at least in The Witness I eventually solved everything myself through to the end (with a couple of super vague hints on two puzzles I can think of). Fez seemed utterly impenetrable by comparison, at least with this you feel like the solution is within reach even if you can't identify it immediately.



For the most part the concepts are clearly signified even if you don't understand what the signifiers mean, if that makes sense.
Click to expand...


Thanks Brad, have put my mind to rest. I never want solutions just served up to me, but I also cannot be bothered with wilfully obtuse solutions that just piss the player off. This sounds like it strikes a nice balance.
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
The Spacechem comparison is one that someone else drew that also has me excited. Obviously its nothing like Spacechem mechanically. but there's something to be said for having a very consistent language in which the puzzles are presented that allows you to doodle on napkins and twist your mind geometrically
 
P

ponpo

( ≖‿≖)
I watched the Giantbomb quicklook but Brad is awful at explaining things. "There's so much you can do in this game" without examples.

What are some examples of things you can do with the puzzles that aren't progress / open more puzzles?
 
B

Beaulieu

Member
soooo not specified anywhere what time this comes out on PSN and how big the file is ?
seems weird to hold that back in their communication strategy.
 
L

louiedog

Member
I guess there's nothing to do now but wait.

49aa0d6a0d.jpg
 
M

Mindlog

Member
The Technomancer said:
The Spacechem comparison is one that someone else drew that also has me excited. Obviously its nothing like Spacechem mechanically. but there's something to be said for having a very consistent language in which the puzzles are presented that allows you to doodle on napkins and twist your mind geometrically
Click to expand...
Spacechem comparison. That's high praise. HARUMPH!
I really like it though. Myst ran into trouble with the whole 'building on a consistent language' bit.
 
R

Renekton

Member
The Technomancer said:
The Spacechem comparison is one that someone else drew that also has me excited. Obviously its nothing like Spacechem mechanically. but there's something to be said for having a very consistent language in which the puzzles are presented that allows you to doodle on napkins and twist your mind geometrically
Click to expand...
Until it opens up to the map levels and ohgodwhy.

I haven't been far enough into Infinifactory to see if it is also the case.

Talos is the most consistent one so far.
 
I

icespide

Banned
rudds said:
Much harder than Portal 2, (somewhat) less obscure than Fez. I can't necessarily say Fez is harder since I also gave up on it once it descended into crypto-hell, but at least in The Witness I eventually solved everything myself through to the end (with a couple of super vague hints on two puzzles I can think of). Fez seemed utterly impenetrable by comparison, at least with this you feel like the solution is within reach even if you can't identify it immediately.



For the most part the concepts are clearly signified even if you don't understand what the signifiers mean, if that makes sense.
Click to expand...

thank you for the response, I think I'm sold again on this game!
 
B

Bsigg12

Member
Hey Brad thanks for being vague in the quick look! You and Jeff showed exactly what I was hoping for and I am now beyond excited to start digging into this tomorrow!
 
K

Kerned

Banned
Gurthang said:
I don't know much about the game but are all the puzzles just those dot connecting panels?
Reallly?
Click to expand...

The answer seems to be both "yes" in that you literally are only solving those line puzzles, but also "no" because understanding the solutions to the puzzles comes from outside the puzzles themselves.
 
B

bobeth

Member
I'm very excited for this, glad it seems to be well received! Now please, a midnight (Eastern time) steam release!
 
H

hey_it's_that_dog

benevolent sexism
ponpo said:
I watched the Giantbomb quicklook but Brad is awful at explaining things. "There's so much you can do in this game" without examples.

What are some examples of things you can do with the puzzles that aren't progress / open more puzzles?
Click to expand...

Did you miss the dozen times he said he didn't want to spoil anything and that's why he was having a hard time explaining things?
 
T

Trace

Banned
God I wish VR was out for this game. I'll play it anyway but it seems like it would add so much to the experience.
 
P

ponpo

( ≖‿≖)
hey_it's_that_dog said:
Did you miss the dozen times he said he didn't want to spoil anything and that's why he was having a hard time explaining things?
Click to expand...

You can give an example of something you can do without it being a "spoiler" like the screenshots linked in the other post do.

Giving examples of outcomes from the only apparent game mechanic shouldn't be considered spoilers.
 
B

brianmcdoogle

Member
Question about the OP:


Q: Physical boxed release?
A: Probably, but not immediately.
​

Are there quotes or comments about this? I see this being repeated, but it always smacked of assumption. Maybe that's changed since last I truly tried to check, but I really want to play this game, but I want a physical release. I waited for Life is Strange, so I can wait for this. Just, hopefully not a long while.
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Mindlog said:
Spacechem comparison. That's high praise. HARUMPH!
I really like it though. Myst ran into trouble with the whole 'building on a consistent language' bit.
Click to expand...

Its sequel, Riven, is much better at having a coherent world and is also easily one of the top 5 adventure games of all time, IMO
 
A

Afro

Member
brianmcdoogle said:
Question about the OP:


Q: Physical boxed release?
A: Probably, but not immediately.
​

Are there quotes or comments about this? I see this being repeated, but it always smacked of assumption. Maybe that's changed since last I truly tried to check, but I really want to play this game, but I want a physical release. I waited for Life is Strange, so I can wait for this. Just, hopefully not a long while.
Click to expand...

scroll down to Physical Box Release

http://the-witness.net/news/2015/12/entering-the-home-stretch/
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
brianmcdoogle said:
Question about the OP:


Q: Physical boxed release?
A: Probably, but not immediately.
​

Are there quotes or comments about this? I see this being repeated, but it always smacked of assumption. Maybe that's changed since last I truly tried to check, but I really want to play this game, but I want a physical release. I waited for Life is Strange, so I can wait for this. Just, hopefully not a long while.
Click to expand...

Physical Box Release

We’ve had some people asking us whether there will be a physical retail release of The Witness. It’s seeming likely, as we have been in talks with a couple of parties for a while about that possibility. *However*, it looks like if there is a retail release, it won’t happen until a little bit after the digital release. The reason is just that we need all the time we can get up until the release date in order to get all the finishing touches into the game; but because of the lead-time involved in physical manufacturing and distribution, we would have to freeze the game right about now in order to have it on store shelves for the release date. *Or* we could delay the digital release date in order to wait for the physical. But I don’t see a good reason to do either of those things. I would rather just focus our energy on making the game as good as we can make it, and a retail version can lag behind by a little bit.
Click to expand...
http://the-witness.net/news/2015/12/entering-the-home-stretch/
 
K

Kerned

Banned
ponpo said:
You can give an example of something you can do without it being a "spoiler" like the screenshots linked in the other post do.

Giving examples of outcomes from the only apparent game mechanic shouldn't be considered spoilers.
Click to expand...

When discovering the novel and interesting ways you can interact with that mechanic is a huge part of the game, yeah, I'd say it's a spoiler. I very much appreciated Brad's restraint in the Quick Look, yet I still felt compelled to turn it off 10 minutes in because I felt like I had learned too much.
 
C

cpp_is_king

Member
brianmcdoogle said:
Question about the OP:


Q: Physical boxed release?
A: Probably, but not immediately.
​

Are there quotes or comments about this? I see this being repeated, but it always smacked of assumption. Maybe that's changed since last I truly tried to check, but I really want to play this game, but I want a physical release. I waited for Life is Strange, so I can wait for this. Just, hopefully not a long while.
Click to expand...

Blow said it himself but I don't have a link handy
 
Trojan

Trojan

Member
The Witness is the quintessential example of a zeitgeist game. I can't wait to tear into this tomorrow along with everyone else, then bound to the message boards after completing chunks of progress to share wins and adversity. Much like Fez, this game is going to get a huge boost from people wanting to be involved in "cracking the safe" for the first time.

The thirst for this game, and challenging puzzlers in general, is real. It's heartening to see so many converts in the last 2 days for this game...people who either weren't aware of The Witness or weren't sold on buying it who are now Day 1.
 
N

nynt9

Member
ponpo said:
You can give an example of something you can do without it being a "spoiler" like the screenshots linked in the other post do.

Giving examples of outcomes from the only apparent game mechanic shouldn't be considered spoilers.
Click to expand...

Um, they can totally be spoilers. The moment of discovery where you go "oh, you can do THAT? This changes everything!" is the entire point of the game.

spoilers, put it inside double spoilers to make sure people don't accidentally click

If you really must spoil a key mechanical twist, (SPOILERS DO NOT CLICK IF YOU DON'T WANT A BIG MECHANICAL SPOILER)
the way the puzzles are initially structured makes you think that you can only draw on panels you're standing in front of. That's not the case. You can bring up the drawing interface whenever you want, so you can draw on puzzles that are meters away, as long as you can see them.

(ANOTHER BIG SPOILER):
Where you can draw on puzzles is actually affected by your vision. So for example if you're drawing on a puzzle from afar but there's an object partially in the way, you can't draw across that part. So you will need to move your perspective to the object isn't in the way.
 
Hoho for breakfast

Hoho for breakfast

Member
GDJustin said:
This game could really benefit from a crowd-sourced hint system, like oldschool adventure games. Wikis will just show you where to put the line. Hints could say something like "look around you before trying to solve" and then get gradually more obvious from there.
Click to expand...

That's an awesome idea and I hope it happens. I want to love this game, but I'm not all that good at puzzles. I think most of the time just a slight nudge in the right direction would be all someone may need to keep going.

I'd really hate to be absolutely stumped by a single puzzle (or two) and just decide to give up on the game completely, or to be stumped on one and then be spoiled completely on the answer. A hint system in game would have been nice but I really hope someone can post a "hint" walkthrough of sorts like you said.
 
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