Board 8 > The Witness *spoilers*

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andylt
05/22/22 1:39:13 PM
#1:


Best major area?










I beat The Witness yesterday, a game I've been meaning to play for years. It is very good! The puzzles are intuitive and almost* always feel fair, I like the environment and overall atmosphere, and the game does a good job of teaching you its mechanics. My only drawback is that the game feels a little sparse in the story department, I'm not sure if I've missed stuff or I'm supposed to piece together more than I have about the island etc but as is, the themes and writing all seem a bit too abstract to me. Of course that's fine, I'm sure plenty of people love that it's like that, but personally I would like a bit more concrete substance there beyond a handful of (admittedly cool) audio logs. I'm not sure if there's multiple endings or something, I definitely haven't done all the puzzles.

I went into this game knowing nothing of its content other than 'line puzzles', and I intentionally stayed away from guides to force myself to think things through, but now I'd like to know if it's worth going back and attempting to clear things up. I've done about half a dozen of the extra puzzles where you draw lines into the surroundings, but I already know that I will be banging my head against the wall trying to find the right angle if I have to do all of them. There's also that one area where you need to look at the order of the branches on the trees, I think I've done that one but it didn't lead to anything. With these kinds of games I'm usually alright with the main puzzles, need a bit of help with the optional ones, and completely give up with the absurdly difficult ones (hello, Fez). Is it worth attempting everything?

And in general what do you think of the game overall? It was received positively but I don't hear people talk about it much, I'd like to hear what opinions people here have! It has not done very well with gfax as a whole :(
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7965-division-7-round-1-yakuza-0-vs-the-witness
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/6570-best-of-2016-indies

*screw the 'changing water levels' room in the desert, hands down the worst room in the game.

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Obellisk
05/22/22 1:46:02 PM
#2:


Came in for Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis... much disappoint

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andylt
05/22/22 1:48:15 PM
#3:


I did consider specifying that this is the 2016 video game but I thought it would be assumed. My apologies!

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PIayer_0
05/22/22 1:51:52 PM
#4:


andylt posted...
*screw the 'changing water levels' room in the desert, hands down the worst room in the game.
Preach! I have a grudge against the desert because I could never figure out the starting puzzles and it was the last area I entered by a long shot.

Keep was so fun; first half was the one of the first areas I completed, and second half was just as satisfying once I had all the knowledge.

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Aecioo
05/22/22 1:53:18 PM
#5:


Check out the giant bomb video with Jonathan Blow (creator). It's super fascinating to here him talk about the game and how he came up with the puzzle ideas.

Loved the game.

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BetrayedTangy
05/22/22 1:56:52 PM
#6:


As frustrating as the Jungle was, getting the puzzles right was super satisfying.

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th3l3fty
05/22/22 2:20:41 PM
#7:


environmental puzzles aren't worth your time unless you really want a 100% file

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bryans7
05/22/22 2:32:08 PM
#8:


Discovering the first environmental puzzle is a top gaming moment for me.

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Dels
05/22/22 3:50:00 PM
#9:


hm, did you get the true ending by finishing all the areas and going to the underground area and doing the bonus challenge? just checking since i can't tell for sure from your post.

i thought it was a top tier gaming experience, and agree that finding the first environmental puzzle was one of the greatest moments in gaming. not sure a game has ever had such a mindblowing moment.

i didn't go for them all though, just had a friend give me a tour of them all basically.
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masterplum
05/22/22 3:51:57 PM
#10:


When I realized what the color puzzles were I yelled out loud

The desert was also awesome

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masterplum
05/22/22 3:53:09 PM
#11:


There is also a secret ending that is weird as hell

you should look it up

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Isquen
05/22/22 3:54:11 PM
#12:


Whatever place has the hedge maze, that's it for me. EDIT: Oh, duh, it's the Keep

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Epyo
05/22/22 4:08:54 PM
#13:


Love this game. It's in my top 10 all time!

Hard to pick a favorite area, I guess Symmetry. The Challenge was my fav part of the game though...not sure if OP found that!

The environmental puzzles are cool but were too much work for me IMO.

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ctesjbuvf
05/22/22 4:32:08 PM
#14:


I've beaten it just this year! Activated all lasers, the mountain and the final challenge as well, though I didn't care to clean up afterward. Really enjoyed it though, sounds and desert were the least fun ones to me.

Symmetry, shapes, colors, removing elements and pairs, all great. Shapes probably best.

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HaRRicH
05/22/22 4:44:59 PM
#15:


I hated the Tetris pieces...only one where I needed help figuring out what they were asking for from the beginning, and then my mind was nulled by them by the end after gathering the basic rules.

Doesn't stop it from being one of the best games of the decade though. GameFAQs polls don't give proper credit to games by Jonathan Blow.

Did you find the bottle?

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andylt
05/22/22 5:24:31 PM
#16:


Dels posted...
hm, did you get the true ending by finishing all the areas and going to the underground area and doing the bonus challenge? just checking since i can't tell for sure from your post.
I don't think so! I got all the lasers, went into the mountain and eventually found an elevator that took me back to the beginning of the game. I haven't found that bottle either, looks like I'm heading back for more! I won't bother trying all the environmental puzzles though, it sounds like it would annoy me.

How many total puzzles are there, btw? I was on 400something and +6 when I 'beat' it.

Colours is probs my fav puzzle set, I was disappointed the bunker was relatively short and loved when I saw those puzzles popping up elsewhere. It's a really well-made game!

Aecioo posted...
Check out the giant bomb video with Jonathan Blow (creator). It's super fascinating to here him talk about the game and how he came up with the puzzle ideas.
Thanks for this too, I'll check it out after I've found whatever the other ending(s?) are.

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Fastbreak
05/22/22 5:25:29 PM
#17:


You can get an ending in the first five minutes of the game

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Dels
05/22/22 5:55:57 PM
#18:


andylt posted...
I don't think so! I got all the lasers, went into the mountain and eventually found an elevator that took me back to the beginning of the game. I haven't found that bottle either, looks like I'm heading back for more! I won't bother trying all the environmental puzzles though, it sounds like it would annoy me.

How many total puzzles are there, btw? I was on 400something and +6 when I 'beat' it.


i don't actually remember the exact sequence of events down there but i think you'd know if you did the thing i'm asking about. i think maybe you can find an alternate path down there somewhere that leads to it.

i googled it and there's apparently 523 panel puzzles.
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Paratroopa1
05/22/22 6:08:39 PM
#19:


Yeah, there is an important major puzzle to solve in the mountain somewhere. I don't remember exactly where, it's been a while, but when you find the puzzle you'll *know*.
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Paratroopa1
05/22/22 6:09:01 PM
#20:


Also yeah The Witness is one of my favorite games of all time, really a masterpiece.
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Mega Mana
05/22/22 6:26:13 PM
#21:


bryans7 posted...
Discovering the first environmental puzzle is a top gaming moment for me.

Thiiiis. I had seen stuff that looked like puzzles (the flowers off the side of the mountain, the flower wall in town), but it never clicked until... hmm... I think I was running around in town trying to figure what wire would open the next door up that central tower and seeing the orange dots and lines on the underside of the staircases, and later on realizing that the obelisks I had been so confused by were starting to light up from environmental finds!

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Dels
05/22/22 6:31:26 PM
#22:


My first was the pipe in the river, under the bridge, near the entrance to the quarry

I'm the type who always tries random things in games "just in case", and my clicking on anything and everything that looked interesting finally paid off.
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andylt
05/22/22 6:59:14 PM
#23:


My first environmental puzzle was the simple river one from the top of the mountain. The game very heavily pointed at it with the panel nearby, I didn't realise it was supposed to be a big deal! Probs my fault for checking out the mountaintop too early >_>

It was cool though. I thought something like that might be a thing when I realised you could shift into line drawing mode at any time.

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Paratroopa1
05/22/22 7:18:23 PM
#24:


Yeah, that's the one that's supposed to help you discover the mechanic. I think most people miss it anyway though, I certainly did.
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Cavedweller2000
05/23/22 2:51:19 AM
#25:


Loved yhe game. Beating the "challenge" was one of the most intense gaming experiences

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BlAcK TuRtLe
05/23/22 2:59:13 AM
#26:


This game pissed me off because it was really fun until the color based puzzles, which were basically impossible for people with colour blindness

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Mega Mana
05/23/22 11:58:01 AM
#27:


andylt posted...
My first environmental puzzle was the simple river one from the top of the mountain. The game very heavily pointed at it with the panel nearby, I didn't realise it was supposed to be a big deal! Probs my fault for checking out the mountaintop too early >_>

I was watching a blind let's play of The Witness, and I was... apopleptic? No, no anger, but very animatedly waving at my screen and trying to point out the river to the guy playing as he enjoyed the view from the top of the mountain looking at the river for an obscene amount of time (probably only like two minutes though), even mentioning how the puzzle and river looked similar before he started talking about all the statues and what they were doing.

I don't rem... oh geez, that was Cracking the Cryptic blind playing! Oh, no wonder I was so animated! It's common to want to point out and badger Simon for missing the obvious next step in the sudoku and either going a completely roundabout super-complex way for arriving at the same conclusion minutes later or going twenty minutes deeper into the puzzle not recognizing a very simple naked single he made and confounded by the puzzle no longer opening up (then seeing it and finishing everything in like two minutes, :P)

I'm gonna be watch and hope no one spoiled him on environmental puzzles. I think his first were the shine puzzles in the desert.

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Aecioo
05/23/22 12:07:33 PM
#28:


There's a reason why you only need to complete X areas to 'beat' the game. You don't need to finish certain areas because they accounted for limitations like colorblindness, deafness, etc

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Dels
05/23/22 1:20:44 PM
#29:


watching youtube compilations of people finding their first environmental puzzle is always fun
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Fastbreak
05/23/22 3:09:49 PM
#30:


Mega Mana posted...
I was watching a blind let's play of The Witness, and I was... apopleptic? No, no anger, but very animatedly waving at my screen and trying to point out the river to the guy playing as he enjoyed the view from the top of the mountain looking at the river for an obscene amount of time (probably only like two minutes though), even mentioning how the puzzle and river looked similar before he started talking about all the statues and what they were doing.

I don't rem... oh geez, that was Cracking the Cryptic blind playing! Oh, no wonder I was so animated! It's common to want to point out and badger Simon for missing the obvious next step in the sudoku and either going a completely roundabout super-complex way for arriving at the same conclusion minutes later or going twenty minutes deeper into the puzzle not recognizing a very simple naked single he made and confounded by the puzzle no longer opening up (then seeing it and finishing everything in like two minutes, :P)

I'm gonna be watch and hope no one spoiled him on environmental puzzles. I think his first were the shine puzzles in the desert.

On the subject, it was tough watching Simon do the garden area because he is colorblind, but it was also joyful because he was having so much fun regardless and figuring out using windows to change the colors was sweet goofy triumph.

I think that's the tutorial environment puzzle. You clear and area, see the Lazer and follow it and then seen the river next to the panel

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Dels
05/23/22 5:07:50 PM
#31:


yeah, when i found my first one, not only was my mind blown, but i was impressed at the game design aspect of it - trusting players to have that experience and figure it out even though it's completely hidden and the game never tells you to.

thinking about it now, i guess maybe that's... not the case? he really did just intend people to do the river one really early and just take it as the introduction of a new mechanic, not a previously-hidden shocking twist.

i'm curious now if he's talked about it but i can't find any interviews about it easily on google.
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DeepsPraw
05/23/22 5:43:00 PM
#32:


He talks about it in the Giant Bomb interview. The river is meant to be a nudge for players that didn't notice the mechanic earlier.

The environmental puzzles' origin is pretty interesting. The genesis of The Witness was as a fantasy game where you cast magic spells by drawing runes. The most powerful spells would be subtly hidden in the environment. Obviously The Witness became a very different game, but the idea of things hidden in the environment remained.

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foolm0r0n
05/23/22 7:54:56 PM
#33:


Trees and bunker were most fun. But desert and symmetry are super good too. And the swamp was miserable but damn if it wasn't the defining experience of that game - in hindsight it was the best.

Damn that game was good

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foolm0r0n
05/23/22 8:04:50 PM
#34:


Oh man you definitely have to do The Challenge. Crucial experience.

My first environmental thing was in the desert when you go up on the scaffolding and it frames the circles on the floor in a really obvious puzzle shape


But right after the intro I tried pressing X when not in front of a puzzle panel, and was surprised that it brought up the UI just the same. At that point I knew for sure there was something to be done with that, but not exactly what. So the first thing that looked remotely like a puzzle, I tried.

What's awesome about discovering that mechanic is going back to old areas that you spent hours in and realizing it's god damn everywhere. Especially the intro.

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andylt
05/24/22 8:23:39 PM
#35:


I did it! I did the challenge! I thought it was way beyond me, I was having trouble with the 2 sets of 3 puzzles and was awful at the maze+triangle part. But I went on a good run and managed the triangles, then shot through the pillars riiiight as the music was about to end. Fuck that was intense. Such a different experience to the rest of the game but you're all right, that was worthwhile. Half the difficulty there is in the music lol.

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Cavedweller2000
05/25/22 2:15:06 AM
#36:


Good job mate, and you're right about the music.

Apparently the creator put the challenge in the game to stop people getting the platinum trophy simply by using guides

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andylt
05/26/22 4:28:09 PM
#37:


Thanks! That makes sense, I'm glad the challenge exists. It's a great finale to the experience, intense as it may be.

I've gotta say I didn't expect the 'reward' for beating it to be an hour long lecture lol. That was also pretty enjoyable. I don't really think of this game as being some transcendental work of art, I just like the puzzles, but I appreciate a lot of the little stuff like that (and the audio logs) that they put in.

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Seanchan
05/26/22 4:34:56 PM
#38:


andylt posted...
Thanks! That makes sense, I'm glad the challenge exists. It's a great finale to the experience, intense as it may be.

I've gotta say I didn't expect the 'reward' for beating it to be an hour long lecture lol. That was also pretty enjoyable. I don't really think of this game as being some transcendental work of art, I just like the puzzles, but I appreciate a lot of the little stuff like that (and the audio logs) that they put in.

Have you played The Talos Principle? Not exactly the same type of puzzle game but I think if you liked The Witness there's a good chance you'd like that as well.

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DeepsPraw
05/26/22 4:40:14 PM
#39:


Did you find the code in one of the tunnels? Not sure if you've done the big secret thing yet or not. (guessing not)

I really like The Witness as a puzzle game, but the philosophical stuff does nothing for me. Apparently the audio logs in the mountain were added last minute (in a day-one patch, no less) as a response to people wanting the game to have somewhat more of a story. While it doesn't really excite me, at least it isn't like Braid where the philosophical bullshit retroactively ruined my opinion of the game.

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andylt
05/26/22 5:55:25 PM
#40:


Seanchan posted...
Have you played The Talos Principle? Not exactly the same type of puzzle game but I think if you liked The Witness there's a good chance you'd like that as well.
I have! I didn't finish it before it left game pass but I was enjoying it. You're right, I think if you like one you'll probably like the other. I'm very open to other recommendations too!

DeepsPraw posted...
Did you find the code in one of the tunnels? Not sure if you've done the big secret thing yet or not. (guessing not)
Probs not I guess! Unless you mean the codes for the projector room (I have 4 of those, nothing big or secret tho).

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Fastbreak
05/28/22 5:18:31 PM
#41:


andylt posted...
Thanks! That makes sense, I'm glad the challenge exists. It's a great finale to the experience, intense as it may be.

I've gotta say I didn't expect the 'reward' for beating it to be an hour long lecture lol. That was also pretty enjoyable. I don't really think of this game as being some transcendental work of art, I just like the puzzles, but I appreciate a lot of the little stuff like that (and the audio logs) that they put in.

It's even worse since there is an environmental puzzle *in* that hour long lecture

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DeepsPraw
05/29/22 6:10:16 PM
#42:


andylt posted...
Probs not I guess! Unless you mean the codes for the projector room (I have 4 of those, nothing big or secret tho).

From where you start the challenge, there's a tunnel that leads under the town and desert. The code is just hanging out in there. It's not a projector code, but it should look familiar...

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andylt
06/04/22 1:12:59 PM
#43:


I'm away from home atm and without Xbox, so I haven't been back on this yet. Keeping it bumped for now.

Fastbreak posted...
It's even worse since there is an environmental puzzle *in* that hour long lecture
That's pretty funny lol

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andylt
06/09/22 4:50:26 PM
#44:


Up once more. I will get back to this soon.

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andylt
06/15/22 1:13:12 PM
#45:


Alright I did the secret ending. That was... weird. They clearly put a lot of effort into all those rooms but it didn't clear anything up any more than the regular ending lol, just a silly video to close things out.

Don't think I'll bother trying to get all the extra puzzles, some of them have already been really annoying with how precise the angle and distance has to be before it recognises you're in the right spot. Still, great game!

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Dels
06/16/22 1:15:03 AM
#46:


I'd never have tried to find them all, but you could take a look at them in a guide, some of them are quite clever.
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Paratroopa1
06/16/22 1:19:05 AM
#47:


The environmental puzzles are super cool, a lot of them are really surprising
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th3l3fty
06/16/22 7:07:13 AM
#48:


this topic inspired me to finally go do the full 100% - my last two non-environmental puzzles were a totally meaningless panel in the quarry warehouse and... the victory trigger because I didn't reload my save after doing it the first time

the actual worst environmental puzzle is the one that requires you to stare at the clouds from a very specific spot and only can be seen <10% of the time btw

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DeepsPraw
06/20/22 5:36:41 PM
#49:


I thought I'd let everyone know a fan game/parody called The Looker was just released on Steam.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1985690/The_Looker/

Pretty clever. It's about 1-2 hours long and free as well.

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