Kolzig

The Witness by Jonathan Blow

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I'm not sure how to talk spoilers for this game. Luckily prettyunsmart's spoiler was something I'd seen as well, but just as well it could have ruined a surprise. Maybe we should at least say the location the spoiler is for before the spoiler? Anyway, I've seen a couple of way more surprising things, but I don't want to spoil.

 

Sorry about that. I thought about trying to explain where it happened, but then I didn't know how to explain it. I edited my post and tried to offer a bit of explanation.

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This game nauseates me. I don't know if it's the FOV or the turning acceleration or what, but I basically want to hurl.

I'm not usually that susceptible to simulation sickness, but sometimes a game gets it just right.

 

It also make me feel weird.  I wouldn't go so far as to say that I want hurl, but my head and stomach definitely feel slightly off.

 

Other than that, I'm really enjoying it.  The audio log at the top of the mountain was so good.

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Do you only get the readout of your puzzles completed number on PS4 ?

I don't seen anything like that when I pause on PC.

I love this game so far. Oh man. I see the puzzles when I close my eyes.

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I love this game so far. Oh man. I see the puzzles when I close my eyes.

 

I played this game before I went to bed, and had a major case of the Tetris effect at night. Combined with the fact that will have to keep my play sessions relatively short due to the motion sickness, I will probably be drawing lines in my dreams for the next couple of weeks or so.

 

I wonder if the developers are working on the motion sickness thing, since it seems quite widespread. Didn't Mirror's Edge solve (or at least try to solve) this by adding a crosshair or something?

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You can see the puzzle count when you select Load Game from the menu. (Kinda weird since there doesn't seem to be an explicit save game option and the game autosaves.)

 

I'm really enjoying the game but there have certainly been some frustrating moments. It's hard to say anything without spoilers because the game is really nonlinear. There's an awkward moment after beating one or two sections where it seems really difficult to progress, most games wouldn't let you have that moment, but here the solution is to just strike out for somewhere new and you'll probably learn something that will help you. It can be frustrating but this really makes the game feel expansive and not just a linear string of puzzle worlds.

 

I did get a little nauseous a few times while playing, but that was mostly from things unnatural things like rapid camera movement, vertical movement, and reflections. There's definitely something about the combination of art style and perspective that makes these things a little more noticeable here. Jonathan Blow said in a Twitch stream today that they'd address this post-launch by maybe adding a FoV slider, they're taking suggestions for possible solutions since they didn't seem to have anyone get particularly motion sick during testing.

 

Some more spoilery discussion: Yellow Brick Panels

This is the first hard wall in the game for me. They seem to be an essential element that's repeated often and I have the basic idea of how to interpret them, but I seem to be missing something. I couldn't get past the second/third set of panels in the red lagoon place. I must be missing some trick that lets you satisfy the requirement more efficiently. It's particularly annoying since you have to ride this slow moving bridge to get there and back.

 

Bamboo Forest

Fuck sound puzzles. Fortunately I think I cleared this area but I just have a really hard time identifying and differentiating pitches. This area adds insult to injury with random red herring noises and reset on failure which is more annoying here than other parts of the game.

 

Channelwood Age (Treehouses)

Couldn't even figure out how to get started in this area, obviously inspired by the treehouse section from Myst, and it seems like it's about another useful panel symbol.

 

Black Obelisks

I'm just surprised how many hidden obelisk puzzles there are. I actually got a little spoiled by prettyunsmart upthread for the first one, although I think that's the first one you're supposed to find, but if you take a closer look at these things there's a ton of these around the island. Not sure how I feel about these yet, may just be too many to track them all down myself.

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Do you only get the readout of your puzzles completed number on PS4 ?

I don't seen anything like that when I pause on PC.

I love this game so far. Oh man. I see the puzzles when I close my eyes.

If you go to 'load game', your last save will have your progess

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I played it for a couple of hours yesterday, completed 67 puzzles. There were already a couple of them where I got that warm feeling after solving and many where I don't even know what's going on. Stopped when I got a bit frustrated with a clever perspective puzzle, I was 100% sure I had the right answer for it but it turned out to be wrong. Went through 2 pages of my notebook already with drawings, diagrams and notes for things that I want to remember later. The game is gorgeous and I think I'll spend a lot of time with it.

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I've been using pencil and paper a lot to help with solving puzzles. Haven't solved any with the yellow dots yet. Unlocked 1 laser so far.

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I ran into what I presume are the tutorial set for the tetris blocks and couldn't even do the first one D:

I will have another crack at it later I guess.

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I played for 2-3 hours last night and by the end was feeling pretty queasy. They need to add options for FOV and look speed. Based on skimming Blow's twitter, it's something that will be addressed soon. I'll just have to keep my play sessions short for now.

 

That said, I like the game a lot so far. The way the island and puzzles are intertwined is a lot of fun. I've already come across several puzzle solutions that made me feel cool for solving them (along with several I couldn't figure out...). Think I'll steal some graph paper from work today. Also this game is gorgeous. The colors are so vibrant...I love it.

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Yep, I just stashed a block of square paper from work into my backpack to use later. 

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I think this is the first first-person game I've played where I find using the Steam Controller more comfortable and effective than KB+M. Using the trackpad for the line panels is great.

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Oh man, solving the garden mazes in the castle first attempt made me feel like a god damn genius.  Let's ignore the countless others I've just walked away from. ¬¬

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Don't know how many puzzles I've solved, but I feel like a fucking genius when I solve puzzles that have stumped me for a bit.

 

There's this one puzzle that's got me and I've been working on it in my head; I really need to get them down on paper.

EDIT: I hate being stubborn and obsessive about my puzzle solving. I have a hard time moving away from a puzzle until I've solved it. Maybe this game will finally give me the skills to do that. 

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After 99 minutes, (70 solved; +6) I suspect this is not really for me. I'll give it another chance over the weekend, but I feel nauseous, exhausted and deflated. The way the game is designed makes my brain go pattern matching overdrive. 

Partially probably because of the environmental line puzzles. I can't look at any vista or view, without desperately trying to find the starting dot and the line. So while the game is very pretty, I don't really see any of it.

I feel as if I'm doing the exact same thing over and over again and haven't been able to find enough delight in the variations thus far.

 

Also, I'm not sure why, but I also find the environment sterile and off-putting. This is really strange because I've had no issues with all the various Mysts and Talos Principles in the past. I did really want to like the game, and perhaps I'm just having a weird day.

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Oh man, solving the garden mazes in the castle first attempt made me feel like a god damn genius.  Let's ignore the countless others I've just walked away from. ¬¬

 

I got to those, solved the first one relatively easily, got to the second and went NOPE, that thing had concepts that I hadn't seen until then. Maybe I should go back and explore the areas close to the start, I guess.

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Oh man, solving the garden mazes in the castle first attempt made me feel like a god damn genius.  Let's ignore the countless others I've just walked away from. ¬¬

 

When I figured out the solution to the 4th one of those I felt like a total puzzle lord for sure.

 

EDIT: I hate being stubborn and obsessive about my puzzle solving. I have a hard time moving away from a puzzle until I've solved it. Maybe this game will finally give me the skills to do that.

 

The thing that's allowed me to pull away when stuck is the appeal of exploring the island. Now after I've explored everywhere and I get stuck...that will be when the dark times come.

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I've played a couple hours now and really loving it. I didn't realize there was a run button until I watched the Giant Bomb quicklook, but in retrospect I realize that's what that L-stick LT button prompt was trying to tell me.

 

I started feeling motion sick before I left the first area, but I remembered reading an article about how the dot in Mirror's Edge was critical to prevent motion sickness. So I cut out a tiny bit of a post-it note and putting it on the center of my TV (I used another first person game to find the exact spot) and so far that's made it a lot better! 

 

The game is so gorgeous and I love the soundscape from the footsteps to the mechanical sounds of doors opening. I've definitely skipped some puzzles to come back to later, and tonight I'm gonna get myself some graph paper. There's one puzzle that I'm probably going to be trying to solve during work today when I have down time :P

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BOOM

Completed the 'Marsh' area.

Only 2.1% have done that according to the trophies :tup:

Damn it feels good to be a witness 181 +12

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I'm still working through the "first" area. I found a bunch of screens in some ruins, failed at one since I hadn't gotten the "teaching" puzzles for this style, and the screen went blank. Did I break something? (I'm assuming not, but y'know)

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*sigh*

 

It's even available DRM free from Humble, but the price tag is scary (particularly over here).

 

The only real point of criticism reviews bring up is that it's basically all the same puzzle type – how much does that issue weigh for you guys?

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I'm still working through the "first" area. I found a bunch of screens in some ruins, failed at one since I hadn't gotten the "teaching" puzzles for this style, and the screen went blank. Did I break something? (I'm assuming not, but y'know)

if it's the one I'm thinking of, you have to go back to the puzzle before it, re-do it, and it'll turn it back on

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I'm currently at 259 +10. A while ago I found something weird that I'll spoiler tag an explanation.

 

FMV from a 1970s (?) BBC documentary! I don't want to say where or how I found it, but it's definitely in there, and it seems like there might be more.

WTF is this game!

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The only real point of criticism reviews bring up is that it's basically all the same puzzle type – how much does that issue weigh for you guys?

IMO while mostly true it does a disservice to the nature of the puzzles. The "type" of puzzle is in some way just a unified/consistent interface for entering an answer. It's a bit like saying all the puzzles are the same type because they're all mouse and keyboard (or gamepad, I guess) puzzles.

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