Kolzig

The Witness by Jonathan Blow

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I have a question about a puzzle solution in the swamp. I was stumped on this puzzle for a long time, and then accidentally solved it in a moment of frustrated semi-random line movements. Cleinhun offered up a possible solution, but it doesn't sit right with me (no offense Cleinhun!), because the mechanic suggested never shows up again, at least that I've seen...

 

kutRsjz.png

 

witnessme_480.jpg

 

The idea is that you can stack the yellow pieces on top of one another and then use the blue pieces to remove a layer. No other solution so far has required me to do this, and I've solved most of the normal puzzles on the island, thus far... But I can't see how else this solution would work without following Cleinhun's steps!

 

Please help. D:

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I have a question about a puzzle solution in the swamp. I was stumped on this puzzle for a long time, and then accidentally solved it in a moment of frustrated semi-random line movements. Cleinhun offered up a possible solution, but it doesn't sit right with me (no offense Cleinhun!), because the mechanic suggested never shows up again, at least that I've seen...

 

kutRsjz.png

 

witnessme_480.jpg

 

The idea is that you can stack the yellow pieces on top of one another and then use the blue pieces to remove a layer. No other solution so far has required me to do this, and I've solved most of the normal puzzles on the island, thus far... But I can't see how else this solution would work without following Cleinhun's steps!

 

Please help. D:

I'm not sure what you think is happening, but I'll give you my take on it:

The blue block will delete 4 yellow blocks. They can be any blocks from any of the pieces in the same demarcated area. The resulting shape must fit the line you traced. In this case you can think of it as deleting all but one of the blocks from the leftmost piece (the inverted L-piece) and one from the bottom right piece (the top block). That's not unique though, you could also think of it as deleting two from the leftmost block and two from the bottom right one, and so on.

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Nnnno, I guess I didn't explain myself. Also I don't think the rule as you described is accurate...

 

The blue blocks have to delete THAT SHAPE. So it has to delete a square shape. This, from the total shape constructed by the yellow shapes.

 

Cleinhun's solution is that the two sideways L-shapes are first placed overlapping, and then the blue square is used to remove the area on which they overlap. So, you have two blocks stacked in the bottom middle area, and the square removes those, leaving a single block in the bottom middle area. Er, I'll just demonstrate it with numbers...

 

0011 -> 0011

0001 -> 0001

0111 -> 0001

1221 -> 1111

 

the

 

11

22

 

becomes

 

00

11

 

This is completely different to how I've solved literally every other blue-block Tetris puzzle. In those other puzzles, I always place the yellow pieces to make a shape, and then use the blue blocks to cut out a piece. I've never once, other than this situation, stacked the yellow pieces on top of each other on the Z-axis.

 

Hence why I'm asking what other people's solutions were, because this feels wrong to me!

 

EDIT: Also, unrelated question, about some caves I don't know how to get to...

 

Can I get a hint as to how to get behind the door behind the theater (under the windmill), and also behind the door under the desert castle (it's behind the elevator your ride up to activate the laser). There must be another entrance somewhere, obviously, but I don't know where.

 

Other thing, related to hexagons...

 

I noticed last night that the moon in the Psalm 46 video is a circle.................... (I couldn't manage to activate it for some reason, but it was making the sound like it is a circle to start a puzzle, but like I was hitting it from the wrong angle or something).

 

That's insane! Also I love it! And hate it!

 

.

.

.

 

I fucking love this game.

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I ran into that same thing with the blue blocks and was confused. I also never used it again, but I think that's how the mechanic works.

 

Edit: With XCOM2, I didn't play this at all this weekend, and I feel kinda good about that actually. I'd like to circle back and see that 11 laser ending, but when I saw that hall of new puzzles my brain turned off.

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Blue squares

Can delete any square inside the shape area

So in this instance with the three Tetris blocks. As long as all the icons are within the area you can delete any 4 squares. So for example you can shave you shapes down by 1 or 2 blocks before you start piecing them together.

Also once a block has been deleted it can then be overlayed with a different block from different shape...

Edit: just read your post. Yeah you stack em. I've done a few more like that since

Doors behind the theatre

i solved the one on the left door, you need to try harder :) I think the puzzle on the right door might be impossible??? I just decided that now as I've spent a long time trying to solve it. Both doors go to the same place so one puzzle is a unsolvable hoax! possibly

It just interconnects with a few place around the world. And there's a puzzle box in there but I don't know what the solution is for??

Circles in the videos...

have you got the science and art video where the guy holds up the book....

stand back, like way back and watch it again

I haven't lined the moon up yet, I guess you do it from above... See doors behind threater

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Doors behind the theatre

i solved the one on the left door, you need to try harder :) I think the puzzle on the right door might be impossible??? I just decided that now as I've spent a long time trying to solve it. Both doors go to the same place so one puzzle is a unsolvable hoax! possibly

It just interconnects with a few place around the world. And there's a puzzle box in there but I don't know what the solution is for??

 

I just got the right-hand door last night, it's definitely one that makes you smack your head once you get it.

 

I'm not sure if you have to figure this out when you're solving other tetromino puzzles, but keep in mind that if you enclose multiple tetrominos in a section of the grid, they can be "placed" anywhere in that enclosed area regardless of where their "originating" blocks are.

 

The layout of the tetrominos in the four corners of that puzzle is very misleading.

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All right I'll accept the mechanic since now multiple people are saying it should be that way.

 

It still doesn't sit right with me. Like I said I literally have not used it that way since. Not even once. I may not have solved every puzzle, but I know for sure I've solved most of them. I was even watching out for that mechanic ever since, as it blindsided me the first time. I think I'd hodl this up as the one major issue I've had with the game so far, but it's still a pretty minor issue in the grand scheme of things. (The other is... well, I already complained about that one above.)

 

re: doors

 

Oops, I didn't mean the doors behind the theater, I meant the door to the left once you go downstairs. So if you head straight down the cave away from the front of the theater, there's a door and a puzzle is on the opposite side of the door. There's also the path above, which I presume is how I get to the other side of the door since I see stairs down the hallway, but I've yet to find that entrance.

 

Also can confirm both puzzles are solvable, 'cause I solved both of 'em.

 

Circles

That sounds like hell. Haha god you have to sit all the way through those videos again. AHH!

 

prawks: yeah I'm aware of tha tmechanic. I'd have to be to be able to solve many of the puzzles I've already solved! It's the other very specific mechanic that I've literally only used this once that's throwing me off. Hence why I was looking for a more "correct" solution.

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I had the same understanding of the blue blocks as Mington.

i.e. that they could delete any blocks, not just in that shape. But I could be wrong because that's the only puzzle where it comes into play that I've done. A good way to test it out would be to try solving this puzzle different ways. Might try it when I get home from work.

 

Doors behind the theatre

 

I've opened both doors :P Twig, if you're wondering where the other side of that door goes, there's an entrance from the room in the town that has the big orange container in it. The one right by the dock. No point getting back there until you open the doors though...it's basically just a shortcut path.

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I guarantee the shape matters!

 

blue-puzzles-third-room-1024x640.jpg

 

Otherwise, that puzzle on the right could be solved by outlining the tiny blue L and the tiny yellow L and it would still be a valid solution. I can't believe that's a valid solution. If it is, then there's a big discrepancy between the rules of blue and yellow and that, to me, would be really bad design.

 

EDIT: Even beetter example.

 

red-tetris-puzzles.jpg

 

If the shape didn't matter for blue blocks, that wouldn't be tilted, because then orientation wouldn't matter at all.

 

At any rate, that was never the mechanic I was questioning.

 

Also: re: doors: I explained in my previous post, possibly while you were typing up yours, that I meant a different door in the same area.

 

Goddamn this game is hard to talk about, hahaha.

 

(edited to add another example image)

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Huh maybe you're right then, regarding blue squares... :shrug:

I ain't got through that door either, it kinda points back to the beginning area, maybe there's some hedge covered pathway we haven't found.

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Re: Door

I'm probably thinking of a different door, but I opened a shitload of underground passages through the 11 lasers / challenge area. There might be a path if you continue past the record player area. I can't remember.

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I guarantee the shape matters!

 

blue-puzzles-third-room-1024x640.jpg

 

Otherwise, that puzzle on the right could be solved by outlining the tiny blue L and the tiny yellow L and it would still be a valid solution. I can't believe that's a valid solution. If it is, then there's a big discrepancy between the rules of blue and yellow and that, to me, would be really bad design.

 

EDIT: Even beetter example.

 

red-tetris-puzzles.jpg

 

If the shape didn't matter for blue blocks, that wouldn't be tilted, because then orientation wouldn't matter at all.

I'm not at my PS4, but tomorrow I will try to show you an example of where it works that way. In your second example, I recall actually entering a solution where the two "left out" squares don't touch, but I could be wrong.

As for the first example, the reason you can't enter that solution is because of the missing piece of the board in the top right corner. In fact, I would say that's the only reason that hole is there. If it weren't the puzzle would be trivial (for the reason you said).

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re swamp puzzle

 

Oh you're right about the first example. I missed that hole.

 

If you're right and you can just randomly place the bits anywhere, then that's really bad design. Especially since every puzzle is solvable by doing NOT THAT. Except, apparently, the one.

 

oh and re door

 

Yeah I opened a ton of doors in the post-11-lasers area, but none of them led there? Maybe?

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About the blue squares:

The way I understood them and it also seemed to work in one weird "post game" puzzle is, they do cut out the shape they represent and it has nothing to do with stacking. The interesting and potentially confusing detail is, they cut the yellow squares out but also remove the space they were taking. So using your example and notation from the previous page:

 

__0011 -> 0011

__0001 -> 0001

__1101 -> 0001

111111 -> 1111

 

The red squares were removed. Note the shapes wouldn't fit the grid before applying the blue square but it doesn't matter as it's the final shape we're interested in. Most of the time you won't see this effect, it can only happen if cutting out from the shape creates multiple disjointed parts.

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I dunno haha that feels weird to me, too.

 

This is driving me crazy!!!

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Obviously I can't guarantee that's it exactly, but it actually makes sense to me, it felt right when I figured it out and I think I've solved all puzzles with that element that are in the game with this assumption.

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Just gonna lay out clearly how I solved these things.

 

1) Place all the relevant yellow pieces in a shape that includes the relevant blue pieces.

2) Use the blue pieces to cut out pieces of the larger yellow shape.

3) Do this until you've got a solution.

 

...Written out like that it sounds really vague and dumb, but I guess it worked as a spacial reasoning system for me haha.

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oh and re door

 

Yeah I opened a ton of doors in the post-11-lasers area, but none of them led there? Maybe?

 

Just checked and I have opened the door. Explore the record player area again.

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I didn't notice what you said about it being tilted. You have a point there. Dammit! I know which puzzle to test it on though.

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I just finished this (433+67), and get the slightly depressed feeling I always get after finishing a great huge thing I've been waiting for forever, with tons of stuff still left unfinished. Once I've seen the/an ending, I never have the patience to go back and look for hidden stuff all over, especially having heard how ridiculous some of the stuff is. Just like with the GTA games, I just have to let the completionist stuff go, and in time I'll remember this as the Myst sequel I never thought I'd see (also can't wait for Obduction)

 

It was fun while it lasted, and I'm very proud of finishing without ever looking up hints. I rarely have the patience to actually let something lie for a night and come back to it, but I did a number of times with The Witness, and the feeling of having an understanding click into place is incredible.

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I will say, if you have all 11 lasers on, it's well worth visiting the secret extra area. There's a big chunk of capital C content you'd be glad you visited even for a couple of extra hours.

A total of 433 makes me think you haven't discovered it yet. I would never have found it myself without a hint... So here's the hint

look at the box on top of the mountain again

Everyone who gets that far should really check it out

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All right I finally opened up that last door, and now I'm at 510+45

 

Sorta feeling like maybe I'm done now. Is there... anything else I could really do?

 

PS That ending, wow.

 

Hahahaha seeing the pee bottle there made me lose my shit. And the guy tapping all the circles he saw, trying to activate something. SO GOOD.

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I am still crawling through the game (in fits and starts, probably 16-17 hours in with 210 + 9), and determined to make my way through that godforsaken marsh area. I'm on the very puzzle that Twig was talking about on this page of the thread, and spending most of my 3am headspace on it.

 

I've gone through periods of intense frustration, but I also think I'm starting to truly fall for the game. When I was at the laundromat Sunday, I pulled out my phone and studied screenshots I had taken of panels the night before. For better or worse, The Witness has me.

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