I finally got through the temple, although I have to admit that I looked up the solution to the fourth indoor puzzle.
I don’t think I would ever have thought to look on the ground for a broken twig that was part of the solution pattern.
I moved on to the bamboo forest with the chirping birds. I had a heck of a time even finding the first puzzle in that area. I’m now stuck on a puzzle where it sounds like there are overlapping bird chirps and I can’t separate them out enough to figure out the solution.
So I went back to the treehouse area, which I had started earlier and stopped about halfway through. It looked like I had finished all the puzzles, but I had platforms hanging out in mid-air going nowhere, and there was no way I could beat the timer to get through the last door to the laser. I was finally able to figure out the solution, which seemed kind of obvious in hindsight and a little dumb luck that I didn’t stumble upon it earlier when working through the puzzles.
Another cool thing that I notice as I’m exploring is that there are a number of places where, if you look from a certain angle, you see things that are only visible from that angle. For example in the treehouse area there is one burned out shell of a treehouse, and as you move around it just looks like twisted branches and whatnot. But then suddenly from one angle you look at it and see the shape of a man trying to start a fire with a stick. Another one is in the swamp area, there is a statue of a woman up on a box and from a certain angle it looks like she is joining hands with the giant sculpture of the woman sticking out of the side of the mountain. Finding stuff like that unexpectedly is just so fun.
Back to the bamboo forest… I made it through all of the puzzles on the panel that pops up out of the ground. But I can’t figure out where to go from there. I’ve traced the cable coming out, it goes up in the tree and across and comes down another tree, then along the rock ledge above the path leading to the mountain, then just disappears. So, is there no laser in the bamboo forest or am I missing something?
Also there is a large tree at the bottom of the path (near the first set of puzzles in that area, I think) that, as I approach it, I hear what sounds like a cell phone ringing, along with the bird chirps. But I can’t locate exactly where it’s coming from or why it’s there.
There is a laser in there, but it’s seriously maze-y. It’s extremely easy to miss, even if you’re using a right-hand or left-hand rule to try to find everywhere inside the bamboo forest. There’s no trick or anything, just a passageway that’s extremely easy to walk past without noticing.
Thanks for the tip, Gorsnak. I went back looking for it and you are right, it is hard to get to. I could see it through the bamboo while standing near the stream coming down from the mountain, but couldn’t figure out how to get in there. I had to go back down the trail, and come back up the other side, then wind my way through the bamboo from the inside. And yeah, I had been through that area a few times already but somehow managed to go right past the opening.
So I’ve “finished” that area, but still feel like there are things I missed. I’m still wondering about the ringing cell phone sound by the big tree on the lower trail. Is that a red herring or is there something I haven’t found down there? Also, when standing on the ledge of the upper trail, I can see an opening covered with a grate in the top of rock below, but haven’t been able to figure out how to get in there. (Maybe that’s not a way in, maybe it’s a way out from somewhere else? There are two gates over by the temple that I have not been able to get open… one is just a back way into/out of the garden, but there is another one that looks like an opening to an underground passage. So I’m guessing the two are connected.)
I also got through the greenhouse on the side of the mountain. I thought that was actually one of the easier sets of puzzles to get through. When I got to the laser I thought to myself “That’s it?” I expected there to be more to that area.
At this point I think I have all of the lasers activated except for the one in the deserted town, so that’s where I’m headed next.
Spoilering advice for **Shoeless ** (although calling it advice is a bit strong, I’m afraid).
[spoiler] Unless I’m mistaken, the ringing cellphone is just a sound to make it more difficult to solve one of the puzzles in the area.
I’m not entirely sure, but if the opening with the grate is what I think it is, there are some hidden areas of the game that you can only get access to from a point pretty close to the endgame. The game teases you with glimpses of these areas in various places throughout the island.
I believe that if you have finished all of the lasers except for the town, you should be well equipped to handle the puzzles for the gate that “looks like an opening to an underground passage”, and the back door to the temple area. But I don’t remember the puzzles well enough to assist with actually solving them if you’re stuck.[/spoiler]
Ok, it finally clicked after doing a long twisty one of these from the top of a tower in the abandoned town. That same shape shows in bright yellow on the obelisk. So I assume all the ones that are grayed out are ones that I haven’t found yet. Judging by the number of obelisks and the number of marks on each obelisk, there are quite a few of these left to be found around the island.
So, is it worth it to go back to all the areas I’ve already covered and look for more of these? Or maybe I should ask, is it * necessary?* Does it affect the outcome of the game if I do it or not?
Completing all of the environmental puzzles does not affect the outcome of the game.
They do count toward the total number of puzzles solved (I think in their own category), which shows up when you load a saved game. From what I’ve read, there’s nothing that happens, e.g. no achievement, for completing all possible puzzles.
I did start a completionist run, with a guide, but gave up when I learned one of the final optional puzzles takes about an hour to complete. It was already getting too tedious for me as it was (and I collected flags in AC).
OK, I think I’m getting near the end. I have all the lasers going now, went to the top of the mountain, but am stumped how to solve the puzzle that the two figures are standing on under the arches. For one thing, it looks like there are three possible starting points but no endpoints. And also, the figures are blocking some of the lines. I assume you need to work around them, kind of like the “tree on the table” puzzle in the temple, but haven’t figured out how.
So I headed back down the mountain and found the doorway about halfway down. The puzzle at the end of that passage also has me stumped. It has the black and white squares that you have to separate, and the dots on the paths that you have to be sure and cover with your line. But there are two colors of dots, blue and yellow, and the yellow dots seem to block off certain areas of the grid once you have covered them with your line. I don’t recall coming across any puzzles like this before, so I don’t know if there is a tutorial area that I missed or if it’s just a curveball the game is throwing at me.
I have a question about one of the puzzles in the abandoned town. It’s another one where I wound up having to look at a guide to get the solution, but still don’t get it. It’s the one with three hexagons stacked vertically, on top of the building that has the puzzle inside the building where you have to get three different solutions to the same puzzle. I think the puzzle down below activates the puzzle up top once you get all three cables lit. The top half of the solution follows the shadows from the tree branches, but once you get from the center of the top hexagon to the center of the middle hexagon, I couldn’t figure out how to solve the bottom. I looked for other shadows, scratches, patterns on a nearby wall or floor, but no clue. None of the guides explain it, they just show the solution, like it should be obvious. What did I miss on this one?
There are end “nubs” and yes, you need to work around them. It’s all about where you stand and the angle of viewing. It is possible to view it in a way that allows you to complete it.
And I suggest you look at it very, very, very carefully.
Alright, yes there are end nubs, the trick is that they don’t appear until you click on one of the starting circles! Took me forever to figure that out… :smack: I was wandering around backtracking all over the island trying to figure out something I might have missed, and squandered most of the time I had available for playing tonight.
I figured one of the three out, but am still working on the other two. The problem with these is you can’t just sketch it out on some graph paper and try to figure it out with a pencil. You have to keep moving around and, as you say, get just the right angle where parts of the statues aren’t in the way. And then you gotta do it two more times! Argh…
Hmm… Not sure what that would be. I managed to get all three open and got down inside the mountain. Holy crap those puzzles down there are crazy. I got through the first set but had to stop while working on the second set… All the shifting colors were starting to give me a headache.
I finally finished the game tonight (after not being able to play for a week) and, well… the ending is kind of disappointing. I guess I was expecting some sort of revelation, or explanation, or resolution, or something to happen…
One issue I had with the game was that the audio parts were very hard to hear. I had the volume all the way up on my laptop and still had to plug in headphones to be able to understand anything that was being said in the audio clips. But having to wear headphones the entire time is kind of a pain.
On the other hand, it was interesting enough that I’m certain I’ll play through again. I know there is some stuff I missed, locked areas I was never able to get into, etc. And now I have notes to help me remember the more difficult puzzles.
I’m going to spoil this response to Shoeless in case anyone who hasn’t finished the game is still reading this thread.
[spoiler] When I first played through the game, I thought the ending was at least a little meaningful, but perhaps subtle and also perhaps underwhelming. You zoom around the island a la Wonka’s glass elevator, and then, poof the game is gone. It left me a little stunned, but then I realized the game was making an artistic point about itself.
I won’t try to explicate the point I thought the game was making because, like art, different people will have different reactions, but I can totally see how someone might not be in the right frame of mind to appreciate the abrupt transition (or otherwise might not care for the oh-so-preciousness of the artistic point). [/spoiler]
And another double spoiler in case people don’t want to hear about, well, more than the previous spoiler: there is a second ending to the game that I felt was more satisfying (although, again, de gustibus, but it’s definitely closer to a revelation than the first ending). If you start up a new game, you will discover something that - having played through the game and done at least a few of the environmental puzzles - you will find to be quite obvious to you that you of course completely overlooked before. That something leads to the second ending.
If you’ve solved the caves, you eventually find a way (I don’t recall exactly what it is) to re-light the white gate that you turn off to get out of the starting area. That enables an environmental puzzle involving the gate, and solving that turns the gate into something else.
