Frylock, I am also stuck just where you were on the Tetris puzzles. I am also stuck on the very nearl puzzles to the left. However, I do understand the rules and I did complete the training area.
I’m glad to know the tetris-rule. I’ve seen tetris puzzles all around the island and can’t wait to get back and solve them.
These Tetris puzzles are enough to make me lose my mind. My wife is using coins and a drawn grid to lay the puzzles out physically. I will give this game credit: It has had me taking more notes than almost any game I’ve played in years.
My second-least favorite puzzle type. (And I’d say the most difficult; my least favorite isn’t harder, it’s just more annoying.)
I am stubborn and insisted on doing it all in my head but man it was not really that fun sometimes.
I did come up with ways to kind of logic out the solutions–or at least to narrow my search space using some robust conditional statements. Still very hard to visualize though.
I am very poor at mentally visualizing things. I have low spatial intelligence, I guess. Having said that, I have been able to muster through most panels so far. My wife and I are enjoying this game as a two-player experience. I almost would suggest it is a multiplayer game, as it is a lot of fun to discuss solutions.
My wife has really come through and solved some puzzlers.
I am greatly impressed with Jonathan Blow for this game. It is amazing. Having said that, this game would have been an all time great if it:
Had a Myst-like world where we could read journals and really tell it was lived in. I get that the statues and so forth indicate some things, but it could have been better.
Had a stronger narrative. I think it would have worked well if we learned a lot more about ourselves, the island, how the island became abandoned, and what our role was in this world. Subtly is nice, but I have read he essentially removed 95% of the narrative that was in his head.
In really glad you like it. Honestly I’m glad the plotline was cut out; I really dig the mystery of it all. I don’t know what all you’ve completed but there’s some pretty cool stuff as far as imagery hinting at plot. It makes me feel like early seasons of LOST again.
Massive gameplay spoiler in the box below, but I have to ask anyone who has played.
[spoiler] Did you find out about the environmental puzzles during your gameplay or did you read about it online? Or just learn from me mentioning it now. The island is filled with spots where you can draw lines on the actual environment/architecture.
I learned naturally, unspoiled when I found it. I was at the Desert Temple very early. The first lengthy area I completed, right after symmetry. I saw the large circular shape on the building and clicked on it as a goof. By complete coincidence, the sun was on it and it lit up. I didn’t even know the sun/light activated puzzles in that area. It was very lucky. Otherwise, I would have shrugged it off and moved on.
I suspected because of the very same desert area thing you saw, but never managed to get anything to happen when I clicked on it. Later learned there was something people were referring to as “environmental puzzles” but wasn’t sure of the meaning. Then saw one pretty clearly laid out at one point and the phrase “environmental puzzle” clicked and I tried it out and it worked.
I just saw an interview with Jonathan Blow and he explained:
That the original idea of the game was the top of the mountain, looking down and realizing that the path you walked on is a puzzle. It’s the river in the final game, but he felt that one screamed at the player more than any other. He sat on the “secret puzzles” secret for years.
Wow, just finished the jungle/bamboo area and was stunned how short it is. It took my wife and I 45 minutes(due to getting stuck once) to finish that. The small effort lit up a laser, while we worked for a few days of gameplay to do the tetris one and got the same reward.
We are entering a Monastery/Temple like building(not the one in the Desert).
I think I’ve been playing this game too much. Sitting at my desk at work, I noticed that the semicircular aperture at the edge where cables go, paired with the same aperture in the adjacent desk, formed a circle, and the small gap between the desks formed a line emerging from that circle…
I’m seeing these things everywhere now
If anyone still cares, I am now inside the mountain, solving puzzles in there. It’s been a long month playing this game, but I will be very sad to see it end.
I turned on all 11 lasers, used only the tiniest amount of help. Two puzzles did not display properly in low graphics(shadow related, if you care), so I ended up solving them 95% without help, but needing a picture online to discover the proper image needed.
Few tiny hints needed here or there. I still don’t know how I solved the elevator in the arboretum.
This is definitely in the top 5 for all-time puzzly-adventure games.