The Witness- Jonathan Blow's next game

[PrincessFrosty]

From reading it seems like there's some standard for finding everything which so far is 523, +135, + 6 and these numbers come from the game load screen, I don't think those numbers are correct I think the first one is supposed to be higher but I can't find the exact reference now, I got this from reddit.

There's also supposedly 3 endings, the first secret ending is the credits ending then with a video at the end, and then there's another video ending on top of that which i think is if you get essentially what people think is 100% on the puzzles.

There's lots of speculation about more possible meta puzzles, something to do with my 1 puzzle short of 666 puzzles, also people are trying to work out of the little dasiy flowers dotted about the place have some greater meaning, there's a little bunch of them in an x shape next to the windmil and they appear very selectively elsewhere around the island.

It's good there's more depth to the game that the first ending would suggest, however I think the basic ending should be more rewarding/fullfiling.

People have also done things like pulled raw data out of the .exe file only to find it contains image data blocks which when you construct into an image show either sky or water or something, there's definitely more to the game.

 

[Subyman]

It will be fun to see how many secrets and deep meanings come out of the game over time as people poke at every corner and piece it together. I need to spend more time with the audio logs and films before I can have a meaningful discussion or insight on it.

 

[Subyman]

I sat down to play through the lasers I skipped before beating the game. I blew through the maze puzzles and suddenly got bored. I think I need some time away from the game because I do not feel like solving any more puzzles. Kind of wish their were more mechanics or something. I'm hovering at around 400 puzzles solved. I want to dig deeper, so maybe I'll want to come back in a few days.

 

[paperfist]

I'm not sure I'd be into this game, I mean I like to use my brain, but some of these puzzle games grind my gears too much.

That said it seems pretty impressive that they did $5 million in revenue in the first week of sales.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

If you're getting frustrated with puzzles then it's best to either leave the game entirely and take a break, preferably not revist the game until the next day, this will help a lot with solutions, quite why I'm not sure but frustration comes through not being able to think as laterally as you'd like an essentially getting stuck in the same loop of considering the same things.

Or if you absolutely insist on keep playing then explore the island and visit new areas, there's an absolutely massive area to explore and anywhere panels are bunched together in rows next to each other are tutorial sections to teach you something new.

There's also lots of secrets to be found, tape recorders, lone puzzle panels on the ground, the maps to the honeycomb puzzle under the windmill and a huge slew of environmental puzzles to spot and solve.

 

[Hinda65]

i must be getting to old? I can't figure half of these puzzles out on my own without consulting a tutorial ( not to give solutions necessarily but to give directions)

did anyone actually figure how to do these puzzles WITHOUT consulting the internet?

I pride myself at being good with puzzle games and rarely have to go for help, but this game is killing me.

 

[Sabrewings]

I would take a photo with my phone and look at it while at work if I had time. Obviously you can't interact with it, but if it was one I didn't know the rules for I could have a few ideas by the time I got home. Others that I knew the rules for I could practice while not at home to get the solution. It was usually only one or two in an area that had me stuck.

 

[Hinda65]

I've taking pictures too...mainly of solutions to tetris puzzles so I can refer to them at different puzzles

 

[PrincessFrosty]

i must be getting to old? I can't figure half of these puzzles out on my own without consulting a tutorial ( not to give solutions necessarily but to give directions)

did anyone actually figure how to do these puzzles WITHOUT consulting the internet?

I pride myself at being good with puzzle games and rarely have to go for help, but this game is killing me.

Yeah, sometimes you dont know everything you need to know to solve the puzzles, there's essentially tutorial areas that walk you through the mechanics but if you dont yet know them then you'll struggle to work them out. If you've seen a new type of mechanic but you've not been hand held through it yet with basic ones first then you need to find the tutorial area for it, that means a lot of exploration. Some tutorials are gated behind others so it means some areas are inherently more "late game" than others.

 

[Hinda65]

Yeah, sometimes you dont know everything you need to know to solve the puzzles, there's essentially tutorial areas that walk you through the mechanics but if you dont yet know them then you'll struggle to work them out. If you've seen a new type of mechanic but you've not been hand held through it yet with basic ones first then you need to find the tutorial area for it, that means a lot of exploration. Some tutorials are gated behind others so it means some areas are inherently more "late game" than others.

I am realizing that finally....I am finally walking away from puzzles rather than frying my brain...looking for tutorial area is key as you've said..i played 3 hrs last night and it felt like 30 mins...found a boat, messed up tree puzzles with items blocking the screens and a cool maze area...the map is MUCH bigger than I had originally thought.

 

[Subyman]

I didn't use any tutorials or walk throughs. It took a while, but it was very satisfying. You have to be able to step away and let the puzzle sink in some times. IMO looking up solutions will make the game harder and harder since you aren't learning what you need for future puzzles.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

I am realizing that finally....I am finally walking away from puzzles rather than frying my brain...looking for tutorial area is key as you've said..i played 3 hrs last night and it felt like 30 mins...found a boat, messed up tree puzzles with items blocking the screens and a cool maze area...the map is MUCH bigger than I had originally thought.

Yep and just to help people out, the tutorials are essentially the sequence of panels that are all in a row connected horizontally, normally there's about 8-10 and they start of really insanely simple and increase in difficulty to teach you exactly how the mechanic works.

One piece of advice I'd give for the tutorial panels is that if you complete a panel through say guessing or being random then don't carry on with the tutorial try and work out why you passed that panel given the rules as you understand them, the purpose of those panels is to teach you what is explicitly denied or allowed and every other puzzle from then on depends on those mechanics, so it's important to get them first time and make sure you really get them and didn't just fluke it.

 

[Hinda65]

So i have all 11 lazers and 381 puzzles solved and +51 (I really like these). There are 150 (or so) more puzzles, I believe, that I have not found, I know there some in the underground areas that I am still trying to get too.

If I head to the mountain, will any actions there prevent me from finding the rest of the puzzles? I would be soooo bummed I finished the game and it did not let me explore to my desired finality. Don't want any spoilers, just a little insider info.

 

[DigDog]

im playing something similar to this, We Happy few; completely broken and alpha AF but very nice visually. however, would not recommend, yet.

 

[BSim500]

So i have all 11 lazers and 381 puzzles solved and +51 (I really like these). There are 150 (or so) more puzzles, I believe, that I have not found, I know there some in the underground areas that I am still trying to get too.

If I head to the mountain, will any actions there prevent me from finding the rest of the puzzles? I would be soooo bummed I finished the game and it did not let me explore to my desired finality. Don't want any spoilers, just a little insider info.

You can use the elevator at the peak to go down in the mountain, do the levels there. There are "challenge" cave levels beyond that. IIRC, you can return from all of them at any point back up the mountain, plus various back door exits open up as you progress (there's one to the swamp you've probably already passed the other side of), so no you don't get stuck in the mountain after starting. The game only "finishes" properly when you enter a certain elevator (which is not the one at the top of nor inside the mountain, you'll know it when you see it). If you don't activate that or the secret ending, you can generally move about in / out the mountain freely. Even if you do accidentally activate it, due to its proximity to a series of final puzzles, you can generally load a save created at the last puzzles. Minor not really spoiler because you were talking about it but put in tags anyway :

Spoiler

There should be 523 "proper" puzzles + 135 terrain ones (but you need to open the challenge caves rear exit to the tunnels to get a couple of the latter, so it's actually impossible to get all the terrain ones before starting the mountain / caves).

 

[Hinda65]

sweet. Thanks for the explanation. I need to take a break from that ship puzzle so i'll head to the mtn.