Kolzig

The Witness by Jonathan Blow

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Morning all, I've been plugging away at this game. At about 320+25, 6 lasers.

I have been stuck on the blue Tetris pieces like a number of people here, initially the one posted here, but now the third puzzle in the next room. I thought I understood the mechanic but now I am totally lost with them.

I think the idea is to subtract one yellow block per blue block, the shape has to match and cannot be twisted, it's just a matter of finding the right line

I had a big ramble originally written about endings, but I ultimately decided to go my own way. Just one question (assuming my understanding is correct)

can you get the 7 laser ending all the way up to 10 lasers? Is there an 11 laser ending? I assume there is a further one beyond that

Ramble

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Morning all, I've been plugging away at this game. At about 320+25, 6 lasers.

I have been stuck on the blue Tetris pieces like a number of people here, initially the one posted here, but now the third puzzle in the next room. I thought I understood the mechanic but now I am totally lost with them.

I think the idea is to subtract one yellow block per blue block, the shape has to match and cannot be twisted, it's just a matter of finding the right line

You are fundamentally correct, but as can be seen from the general confusion the rule is a bit vague. Spoilery hint:

Yes, in the final shape each blue piece must cancel a yellow piece.

Outright spoiler

Most folks think of it as stacking yellow pieces with the help of the blue pieces. I think of it as placing each piece one at the time. You can even start with the blue piece.

I had a big ramble originally written about endings, but I ultimately decided to go my own way. Just one question (assuming my understanding is correct)

can you get the 7 laser ending all the way up to 10 lasers? Is there an 11 laser ending? I assume there is a further one beyond that

Ramble

My current understanding of the ending.

There have been some reports of vague changes in the endings based on the actions in the game. I haven't personally verified this. My understanding is that there's the 7 laser ending and a different ending available at a different location after the 11 lasers portion is done. This ending has two formats, a short and a long one. I'm not entirely sure what that depends on, probably the game state in general. I've only seen a youtube video of the short one, which is just a cut version of the long one.

Additionally, there are a ton of rumors. But I'm not sure if any weight should be given to them. Then again, with some of the idiotic achievement stuff in Braid, who knows.

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You are fundamentally correct, but as can be seen from the general confusion the rule is a bit vague. Spoilery hint:

Yes, in the final shape each blue piece must cancel a yellow piece.

Outright spoiler

Most folks think of it as stacking yellow pieces with the help of the blue pieces. I think of it as placing each piece one at the time. You can even start with the blue piece.

My current understanding of the ending.

There have been some reports of vague changes in the endings based on the actions in the game. I haven't personally verified this. My understanding is that there's the 7 laser ending and a different ending available at a different location after the 11 lasers portion is done. This ending has two formats, a short and a long one. I'm not entirely sure what that depends on, probably the game state in general. I've only seen a youtube video of the short one, which is just a cut version of the long one.

Additionally, there are a ton of rumors. But I'm not sure if any weight should be given to them. Then again, with some of the idiotic achievement stuff in Braid, who knows.

I think I get the blue, will have to test when I get home tonight.

As for the ending

I suppose the was the nub of my question, 'am I missing anything not going for the 7 laser ending', if it's just a edit of the 11 laser then I am fine with skipping it

Thanks!

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I think I get the blue, will have to test when I get home tonight.

As for the ending

I suppose the was the nub of my question, 'am I missing anything not going for the 7 laser ending', if it's just a edit of the 11 laser then I am fine with skipping it

Thanks!

 

Clarification:

Just to be clear, there are two distinct endings that I am aware of. These two endings may or may not have different versions depending on what you've done, but I've only seen one version of each.

 

The first ending can be reached after you activate at least 7 lasers.

 

The second ending is accessible from a different place, and the clue to finding it can be found after reaching a place that requires activating 11 lasers. This ending can be theoretically be reached before this, the clue merely helps.

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Clarification:

Just to be clear, there are two distinct endings that I am aware of. These two endings may or may not have different versions depending on what you've done, but I've only seen one version of each.

The first ending can be reached after you activate at least 7 lasers.

The second ending is accessible from a different place, and the clue to finding it can be found after reaching a place that requires activating 11 lasers. This ending can be theoretically be reached before this, the clue merely helps.

Ah, thanks.

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I finally got 7 lasers, and am fairly deep into what happens next (spoiler, I get stuck some more :P)

The Witness is really annoying at the moment, as I refuses to run if I download a new game without a clean install of my nvidia drivers... Grrr

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I'm at 516+85 (or somewhere around there, last I checked was 513+81, but I found a few more puzzles and did those). I'm kind of stumped as to where the rest of the puzzles are, so I think I'm just gonna be done now. Don't really feel inclined to do any hard hunting anymore.

 

I do have one more question, though, about some puzzles in the village.

 

In one of the buildings, there's a blue light coming from the ceiling, and if you go down into the basement, you'll find two puzzles that work together (i.e., you have to use one puzzle to solve the other). Doing so brings down a staircase where that blue light was. Upstairs is a few puzzles where you ahve to change the color of the light to solve them. But solving them didn't... lead to anything? You can change the light colors to get some + puzzles from outside, but the puzzles on the inside don't actually lead anywhere.

 

That feels weird to me. There are very few dead ends. Almost every series of puzzles leads to something. I guess you could argue this one led to the + puzzles, but you don't need to solve the normal puzzles inside to do the + puzzles... 

 

I guess I'm asking is, do they lead to anything or is it actually just some hidden puzzles that don't do anything?

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I was wondering the same thing.

No idea really. There are definitely a lot of puzzles that don't do anything (like the triangle puzzles or most of the puzzles in the underground area), so maybe the area was initially meant for solving those + puzzles, and the two puzzle panels were there just for the sake of more puzzles. Honestly though, I'm pretty sure that the house holds the key to solving the actual final puzzle of The Witness, and you most likely have to use Blow's spoon performance to arrive at the correct, secret solution for the two panels in the anechoic chamber.

 

Also what is the deal with the four floor puzzles with pillars in the middle in the underground area? They each have 4 exists and make a terrible sound when you solve them.

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Gah! A while ago I found a room

with sound baffles all over the walls and two puzzles - one of which was one like the chirpie ones in the jungle

, but now I can't find the flipping place again - anyone got any idea? It's driving me crazy!

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Gah! A while ago I found a room

with sound baffles all over the walls and two puzzles - one of which was one like the chirpie ones in the jungle

, but now I can't find the flipping place again - anyone got any idea? It's driving me crazy!

It is in the village next to the church. It has an orange shipping container on top. It is the bottom floor of that building.

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I'm at 516+85 (or somewhere around there, last I checked was 513+81, but I found a few more puzzles and did those). I'm kind of stumped as to where the rest of the puzzles are, so I think I'm just gonna be done now. Don't really feel inclined to do any hard hunting anymore.

I do have one more question, though, about some puzzles in the village.

In one of the buildings, there's a blue light coming from the ceiling, and if you go down into the basement, you'll find two puzzles that work together (i.e., you have to use one puzzle to solve the other). Doing so brings down a staircase where that blue light was. Upstairs is a few puzzles where you ahve to change the color of the light to solve them. But solving them didn't... lead to anything? You can change the light colors to get some + puzzles from outside, but the puzzles on the inside don't actually lead anywhere.

That feels weird to me. There are very few dead ends. Almost every series of puzzles leads to something. I guess you could argue this one led to the + puzzles, but you don't need to solve the normal puzzles inside to do the + puzzles...

I guess I'm asking is, do they lead to anything or is it actually just some hidden puzzles that don't do anything?

I am wondering the same thing, I'm convinced that there is a way to turn on all three lights at once to make a white light. That will give you the colours that are on those panels and you can then use that to solve the church door.

I haven't found any way to do that though. I'm not sure the church door is solvable without that information

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That's not how you solve that puzzle! :P

Nappi, on 14 Feb 2016 - 15:07, said:

I was wondering the same thing.

No idea really. There are definitely a lot of puzzles that don't do anything (like the triangle puzzles or most of the puzzles in the underground area), so maybe the area was initially meant for solving those + puzzles, and the two puzzle panels were there just for the sake of more puzzles. Honestly though, I'm pretty sure that the house holds the key to solving the actual final puzzle of The Witness, and you most likely have to use Blow's spoon performance to arrive at the correct, secret solution for the two panels in the anechoic chamber.

Also what is the deal with the four floor puzzles with pillars in the middle in the underground area? They each have 4 exists and make a terrible sound when you solve them.

Well, the triangle puzzles, I think, are just random hidden puzzles that contribute to the total. They're by and large pretty easy, although it's possible finding them all unlocks something, I suppose. There are a couple dead-ends (another one is in the canyon area, where you learn how the mirror puzzles work), but I think most of those are just to teach you how to do things. This one is well after you've learned how, and then you solve 'em and boom, nothing. Could just as easily be a small challenge placed for fun, but I can't think of anything that hard that doesn't lead to anything. I

...Except those pillar puzzles, and basically all the puzzles in that area, haha. I know a lot of people think the pillars are something special. Hopefully someone will figure it out eventually.

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My guess is that

 

Those set of puzzles serve as intentional misdirection. All the other puzzles in the village are a linear sequence like you're used to, but the order for this set of puzzles is not obvious. You're likely to find the final puzzle inside the church first, and I think theoretically it's solvable without having to do any of the other puzzles. But if you assume you have to solve the full sequence then you'll head off towards the deadend while missing the actual key you need to solve the earlier puzzles you've seen. Also the final set of puzzles with colored light are there to remind you what the key you need actually is.

 

Also I think these puzzles more than any others are there to clue you in that you need to explore the rest of the island before coming back to solve the puzzles in the village, so it makes sense to have this baffling set of puzzles visible right up front but still somehow have a logical progression to them.

 

As a side note, I was stuck on the "sound" puzzle in the basement there for an embarrassingly long time because for some reason I equated the big dots with high and small dots with low when it's the other way around.

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Ugh... so for the most part this game is really well done, but some tutorial progressions make leaps in complexity that aren't communicated at all well by the preceding puzzles.

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Latrine: hahaha I made the exact same incorrect assumption as you on those puzzles.

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I'm stuck at the mountain puzzles (some of which I am finding super annoying) so I think I'm going to head back into the world and solve something else.

 

Can someone give me a hint for the pink tree puzzles.

These were some of the first puzzles I solved, but they seemed to just end up in a little illustration area next to the windmill, with a cable leading under it. Are the rest of those puzzles somewhere in the basement of the windmill or what? Where do I go next to get more pink tree puzzles?!

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That's not how you solve that puzzle! :P

Well, the triangle puzzles, I think, are just random hidden puzzles that contribute to the total. They're by and large pretty easy, although it's possible finding them all unlocks something, I suppose. There are a couple dead-ends (another one is in the canyon area, where you learn how the mirror puzzles work), but I think most of those are just to teach you how to do things. This one is well after you've learned how, and then you solve 'em and boom, nothing. Could just as easily be a small challenge placed for fun, but I can't think of anything that hard that doesn't lead to anything. I

...Except those pillar puzzles, and basically all the puzzles in that area, haha. I know a lot of people think the pillars are something special. Hopefully someone will figure it out eventually.

Hmm, I'm not sure how to open that door then.

I'm at a point now where I only have two lasers to get (370+35) I presume the ship is one and the city is the other. I don't think I have seen a way to use three stars of one colour before.

Opening the door to the shipwreck is a clusterfuffle.

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It is in the village next to the church. It has an orange shipping container on top. It is the bottom floor of that building.

THANK YOU!! xx

 

I'm a bit worried - this game has finally seeped into my dreams and I'm seeing blobs & lines everywhere I look now. Is there a cure? I was going to take my temperature to see if there was anything actually wrong with me, but instead of putting the thermometer in my mouth, I traced my finger up the side of it and was disappointed it didn't sparkle :(

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That was it, I think.

 

Oh really? So it was just a one-off thing with no laser at the end or anything?? :S

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Oh really? So it was just a one-off thing with no laser at the end or anything?? :S

 

It's a type of puzzle you'll use to unlock other lasers, though.

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Oh, and after deciding not to go after the monoliths, I made a discovery that changed all that.

Each side of the monolith refers to a specific area near the monolith in that direction

This makes the secret puzzle hunting a lot more manageable for me, so now I've started on those. Already got all the ones on the monolith by the monastery.

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Oh, and after deciding not to go after the monoliths, I made a discovery that changed all that.

Each side of the monolith refers to a specific area near the monolith in that direction

This makes the secret puzzle hunting a lot more manageable for me, so now I've started on those. Already got all the ones on the monolith by the monastery.

Ah, I guessed this may be true - though I was a bit doubtful as

there's NO WAY I could've missed so many in some areas :(

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Oh really? So it was just a one-off thing with no laser at the end or anything?? :S

 

Oh yeah that drove me fucking bonkers. I spent at least half an hour trying to figure out where that cable was supposed to lead. I guess it just unlocked that gate and I never noticed it being locked in the first place. That's another dead end area that confused the hell out of me. At least you could argue that that one's just teaching you the ropes for a later puzzle, but still. D:

 

 

Hmm, I'm not sure how to open that door then.

I'm at a point now where I only have two lasers to get (370+35) I presume the ship is one and the city is the other. I don't think I have seen a way to use three stars of one colour before.

Opening the door to the shipwreck is a clusterfuffle.

 

If you want some hints:

 

Vague-ish hint:

You're on the right track, thinking with colors.

 

Less vague-ish hint:

Look around that puzzle, see if you can view it from a different angle.

 

Even lesser-vague-ish-er hint (aka the way to solve it):

There's a yellow glass pane you can look through to see the actual colors. (Can't remember the exact location. You might need to solve another puzzle to get the right angle, but I'm not 100% on that.)

 

And yeah that ship door, hoo boy. There's only one mechanic to it, but it's a goddamn pain to solve, haha. That's one of the few puzzles I found more annoying than fun, but I did eventually get it, and was so super satisfied. :3

 

 

Oh, and after deciding not to go after the monoliths, I made a discovery that changed all that.

Each side of the monolith refers to a specific area near the monolith in that direction

This makes the secret puzzle hunting a lot more manageable for me, so now I've started on those. Already got all the ones on the monolith by the monastery.

 
Dang, I noticed that right away! :smugface:
 
It still doesn't make it that easy, for me, haha. I'm so baffled as to where some of the puzzles are located. Can't fucking figure it out, lol.

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 At least you could argue that that one's just teaching you the ropes for a later puzzle, but still. D:

 

What later puzzles are these? Are they somewhere outside or is it something inside the mountain?

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