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girl dick energy posted:More than just that, Rae trusts us more than Beth does! I guess he's just a tsundeRae.
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Nov 5, 2021 09:48
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Bifauxnen posted:I guess he's just a tsundeRae. I absolutely hate this, but I'm reluctantly impressed.
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Nov 5, 2021 09:50
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At this raet, I don't think he'll ever be a little rae of sunshine.
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Nov 5, 2021 13:12
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At least he's not Rae-ging at us.
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Nov 5, 2021 15:12
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It's not a 999 homage without puns. Also a MGS2 homage, apparently. 
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Nov 5, 2021 15:35
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Rith posted:
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Nov 5, 2021 16:06
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MagusofStars posted:Loving the idea that Sent is concerned about maintaining full compliance with applicable building code permitting requirements. He might be committing numerous major felonies by kidnapping and attempting to murder people, but by god, he's going to do so in a building in proper accordance with IBC 17.4.j.2(c) - Fire Safety and Sprinkler Requirements for Death Games. The golden rule is if you're going to break the law, only break one law at a time.
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Nov 5, 2021 19:13
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MagusofStars posted:Loving the idea that Sent is concerned about maintaining full compliance with applicable building code permitting requirements. He might be committing numerous major felonies by kidnapping and attempting to murder people, but by god, he's going to do so in a building in proper accordance with IBC 17.4.j.2(c) - Fire Safety and Sprinkler Requirements for Death Games. gotta follow building code as the budget didn't have enough room for Bribe Money
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Nov 5, 2021 23:35
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For some reason I'm enjoying Beth a lot more in this LP than I did in my own playthrough; you must be rubbing off on me, OP. Ink's one of my all time fave VN protags, too. Really glad someone's showing this off.
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Nov 7, 2021 12:50
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6.1: Celsius  The clock is ticking.  (Music: Peace of Mind)  Aether had asked Ink to help her with a daunting task. She wanted his help in proving that Sent was not one of the five Contestants. Ink agreed to help, despite his growing suspicion. He figured he had nothing to lose in keeping an eye out for anything compromising Sent may have left behind.  I know we can figure something out if we work together.  Hey! I never said I wouldn’t help. Just don’t get too hopeful. I don’t even know what it is we’re looking for. Thanks, Ink. I really appreciate it. Uh... yeah. No problem.Or, if you said in the previous chapter that you thought Sent might be one of the Contestants: quote:Ink: Hey! I never said I wouldn’t help. Just don’t get too hopeful. There’s no guarantee that Sent isn’t one of us. Back to the playthrough! The music stops. Let’s catch up with the others. We don’t want to fall behind, do we? Mm. After you.We hear the metal door creak open and slam shut.  (Music: Stranglehold (Rack)) The other Contestants were scattered about the chamber. Liza and Beth were messaging their Contacts, while Rae was focused on the next puzzle. Ink approached him.  Sorry for taking so long back there. Did I miss anything important? Did we get a new recording from Sent? Nah, no recording. No message of any kind, as far as I can tell. It’s functional, but I have no idea what the combination is. Sent didn’t leave a clue this time, so I’m not sure what I’m supposed to work from. It’s right over there if you want to see for yourself. I almost wanna say we’re supposed to spell something, but... But there aren’t any vowels. Exactly. It’s gotta be some sort of code or pattern. Yeah, this one’s pretty F-K-N strange. I mean, without a clue, I’m not sure how we’re going to be able to solve this thing. Strange for Sent to not leave us one... What’s the plan, then? Beats me. I’m gonna mess around with the buttons for a bit. Maybe we should all work on it together? I’ll pass. I’ll figure it out faster on my own.   Oh, Beth! Did you want a hand with that? No, thank you. I can manage on my own.    Concrete, irrefutable proof? No. I don’t. Well then, neither of us can disprove the other’s claims. So, um...  If you think for a second that I’m going to do anything other than what’s safest for me, you’re mistaken. Ah, paranoia at its finest...  It’s not like that! I just think that— Oh, I don’t give a poo poo what you think. I expected better from you, that’s all. But, like... how could Sent just be one guy? Isn’t that a little far-fetched? Too much work went into this place to be the work of a single person.  Is that really what you think?  In case you’ve forgotten, Sent refers to us as “Contestants”. So? That’s just a name. We aren’t allies. We’re opponents. Let’s just continue playing this game, slowly and safely. Don’t go wandering off alone, and don’t turn your back on your fellow Contestants for too long. It’s the only reasonable thing to do.The others had nothing to add. Beth put her back to the wall and returned to her Gemini. The music stops.  It’s alright, Aether. Let them be for now. Why don’t the two of us have a look around? Maybe we can find another clue for the puzzle. Alright.The two of them made their way to the tangle of pipes lining the wall and scoured it together. I don’t even know what we’re looking for... I guess I’ll just keep my eyes peeled for anything that appears out of place. Let’s take our time with this one. We don’t want to miss anything. That’s a fair point. And actually, that reminds me of something. Excuse me for a moment...It’s strange; Sent told us that there was a 24 hour time limit, yet he gave us no way of measuring how much time has elapsed.     Ink! Sorry, I got distracted. What’s up? Aether pointed to a pipe not two feet above the floor.  The valve on this pipe is loose. We could turn it clockwise if we wanted to. All of the other valves along this wall are sealed tight. This is the only one that’ll budge. That does seem a bit fishy. You might be onto something. Should we, um, turn it? Going for it scores us a point with Rae and loses one with Liza; caution gets us a point with Liza but loses one with Rae. Liza outranks Rae in the thread votes, so caution it is! Ink thought he’d heard one of the other Contestants chime in, but Aether was the only person standing nearby. He looked around and saw Liza approaching them, fingers rapping on her Gemini. He sighed. Let’s be cautious, here. We don’t know what might happen if we turn that thing.(Music: Duress) It could trigger a trap. Or do nothing at all. We just need to weigh our options before we go ahead with it.  I’d rather do nothing at all than be wrong about one of these traps. I say we leave it alone. I don’t want to risk getting killed, thanks. It looks harmless enough. Which scanners?   It all happened so fast. One moment I’m messaging my father, and before I know it... “Hello, Contestant”! Wait, what did you just say?The music stops.  Repeat what you just said! Um... I was messaging my father, and then Sent startled me. That’s all. And what did he say? Are you sure that’s what you heard? Exactly what you heard? Of course I’m sure. My hearing is perfect.That’s a pretty adamant claim. Still, this is interesting. What’s got you so excited? Didn’t you hear the same thing? Yeah, pretty much. Don’t even think about touching it. Too late.(Music: Punishing Fire)  Well, I was about to. Not half a turn in, it just kinda...Clink. Rae tossed what remained of the valve onto the floor.  Why would you do that?! There’s gotta be a clue somewhere, and that loose little knob was too suspicious-looking not to touch. You…! Huh?It was difficult to read from so far away, but a message had appeared on the screen:  0, 33, 100, 212, 373.15? That doesn’t help at all! And... why am I sweating all of a sudden?  Hah! I knew it! There’s our clue. I’m sure I’ll figure it out soon enough. Say, does anyone else find it a little hot in here? Yeah? Why don’t you make yourself useful and go prop the other door open? Oh. Yeah, I can do that.Aether fades off the screen. So, this puzzle— Why are you so dead-set on doing this alone? It’ll be faster this way. Trust me. You can’t know that. What’s wrong with you?The music stops.  What’s wrong, Aether?(Music: Last Stand) The door won’t open! It must have locked itself again just now. It won’t move an inch. This... this is all your fault, Rae! The door must’ve locked itself when you turned the valve! Hey, uh, guys... Ink clutched his chest. He found himself panting. It’s, like, really warm all of a sudden. Can you save your argument for later? I’d like to leave this room pronto. You think this is supposed to be a trap? Sure, it’s a bit toasty in here. Maybe it’ll get a bit warmer. That’s not gonna kill us. More than you, I’ll bet. So you know that hundreds of people die each year from excessive temperatures? Yeah, but that’s not even—The screen shakes. And I’m sure you’re well aware that without water or air circulation, even moderate environments can be dangerous? It’s still getting warmer in here. If the temperature keeps increasing, we’ll be vulnerable to hyperthermia. Once our body temperatures exceed 40 degrees Celsius we’ll be in serious trouble. So please... Fine. Whatever. Let’s solve this thing! You can put one letter beneath each number. Letters can be reused. Rith fucked around with this message at 09:15 on Sep 6, 2022 |
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Nov 8, 2021 09:38
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They're temperature scales. In order, D, N, C, F, K. Though who's heard of the Delisle and Newton temperature scales in this day and age, I don't know...
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Nov 8, 2021 09:47
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quote:
Quackles posted:They're temperature scales. In order, D, N, C, F, K. Edit: Also, I really wanna see people speculating about the plot. There's already been some fun foreshadowing I didn't notice until now. 
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Nov 8, 2021 09:50
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Oh, this puzzle is a freebie. It's just the boiling points. Not familiar with the D temperature scale, but I think I've heard of Newton a few times. Also, this is totally Door 6 from 999. 
Blueberry Pancakes fucked around with this message at 14:12 on Nov 8, 2021 |
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Nov 8, 2021 14:10
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Darn, I thought I'd picked up on a slip by the bad guy... but Ink did in fact tell "Sean" the name of Aether before Sean used it. When Ink and Beth were in the elevator, Sent's message was "Hello, Contestants", but that isn't proof of anything, since it would have been easy to pre-record two variations of the line, and to detect multiple people in a particular elevator. I know part of this solution, at least! Can you use the same letters multiple times? I think you have to, right? 0 = 33 = 100 = 212 = 373.15 The last three parts are ? = ? = C = F = K If it isn't this, then it's partly this, I don't know what D and N mean.
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Nov 8, 2021 14:30
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I’m gonna go out on a limb and say Aether is Sent or affiliated with Sent. Her being the only contestant who doesn’t think Sent is within the group is suspicious, and I think she’s trying to reverse psychology the group into splintering further.
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Nov 9, 2021 06:17
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6.2: The Sixth Puzzle (Music: Last Stand)  Let’s just take our time with this; we’ll get it eventually. It’s getting really hot, though. I want to get out of here before it gets worse. I guess I’m the only one enjoying the heat, huh? C’mon, you guys never been in a sauna before? I can spend hours in one of those. Hours, man. While I’m sure everyone is excited to hear about your love of saunas, I have a sneaking suspicion that they’d rather get out of this room alive. So... why don’t you get on that? Unless you’ve got something to contribute, keep your mouth shut. Please. It’s not like anyone else has anything helpful to say. Yeah... I have no idea where to start with this one. Just stay calm and break the clue down. There are five numbers and five letters, right? So one can assume that each number corresponds to one letter. So all we’ve got to do is determine which number matches which letter? Precisely. Don’t jump to conclusions. It’s possible that some of these buttons are meant to throw us off. You think so? Maybe...I don’t think you’re meant to stay in a sauna for hours, Rae. Ugh... I can't stop sweating. This heat is disgusting. Does anyone have any leads? I’m still trying to determine what these numbers mean. They’re all over the place. One of them even has decimal places. I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen them somewhere before. 0 and 100 are pretty common numbers, though. It’s no surprise that they seem familiar to you. Even still... I find it strange, too. 100 and 212 in particular; I know they’re related somehow.What could it be...? 33 is Nidorino. 100 is Voltorb. 212 is Scizor. We run into surmountable problems with 0; I suppose you could consider that to be Mew or Arceus. We run into less surmountable problems with 373.15. I’ve been playing around with the keypad, but nothing I've tried so far has worked. Me neither. This isn’t good... Hey, Rae. How long do you think it would take to brute-force this? Depends. Looks like the answer is 5 letters long, and there are 5 different letters. If we’re supposed to use each button once and only once, then the total number of combinations is equal to 5 factorial. Factorial... that would mean that it’s equal to 5 times 4 times 3 times 2 times 1? That’s right. And do you know what that works out to be? That’s 20, multiplied by 3, then um.... 120 combinations? Right on. That doesn’t seem so bad. Why doesn’t someone try doing that? ‘Cause there’s no guarantee that the answer uses every letter only once. It’s possible that the answer is, like, “CCCCC” or something. That would mean the total number of combinations would instead be 5 to the power of 5. And how much is that? 3125 different combinations. drat! Still, do you think it’s worth trying anyway? Yeah. We could just do 120 and stop if we don’t come up with the right answer by then. If you want to try that, go nuts. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, though. As for me, I’m gonna see if I can’t figure the puzzle out. I feel like the answer is right in front of me...Is it worth trying to brute-force? I like that the characters actively contemplate and discuss brute forcing puzzles when it seems feasible. It feels like a realistic reaction to being imprisoned and forced to solve puzzles under a time limit. Do you think that maybe C is 100? Why do you think that? Well, the last puzzle used roman numerals, so maybe this one does, too? I don’t know, it just feels right. I’m not sure if that’s right. The only other roman numeral I recognize is D, which is 500. It was just an idea. We need to try something. I’m not sure how much longer we’re going to be able to take this heat... We’re clearly missing a huge piece of the puzzle. Any ideas, Liza? Come on, you’ve been pretty quiet. Well, there’s this one thing I’ve had in the back of my mind... Wait, really? Why didn’t you say anything earlier? I told you, I’d rather say nothing at all than be wrong.The screen shakes. Are you loving kidding me?! You don’t need to yell at me like that. I can’t be the only one that hates being wrong. Please, Liza, tell us what you’re thinking. Even a wrong answer is better than nothing. Well, um... I’m no expert or anything, but why are you all ignoring the equals signs between each number? Hmm? I mean, they are equals signs, right? ... T-That is what an equals sign looks like, isn’t it? Why aren’t you saying anything? Yeah, those are equal signs. You might be onto something. Instead of all representing different values, is it possible that these all represent the same thing, just in a different way?Different ways of noting the same thing... Ugh, I'm starting to feel dizzy. If we don't solve this thing fast...The music speeds up at this point, as Ink’s situation becomes worse. Unfortunately for Ink, I like seeing my favourite characters suffer; there’s a reason I’m a fan of the death game genre. Let’s take some more hints and see if we can get him to pass out. Maybe I’ve been looking at this all wrong. I thought the letters were supposed to represent coefficients of some kind. Maybe they mean something else. Let’s assume for a sec that Aether was right back there and that 100 is C. That would mean— That’s it! Liza was right! 100... C! They go together! Huh? What do you mean? I knew I recognized those numbers from somewhere! 100 degrees Celsius. It’s the temperature at which water boils. In Fahrenheit, water boils at 212 degrees. 100, C... 212, F. Do you see what I’m getting at?That's... that's gotta be it! All the letters must represent different units of measurement for temperature! ...How the hell were we supposed to figure that out?!Which means K is Kelvin, but I don’t know what D and N are. Help me out, guys! I know Celsius is C and Fahrenheit is F, but I don’t know what the other three are. K must be Kelvin, then. All I know is that 0 degrees Kelvin is absolute 0. That’s right. Converting from Celsius to Kelvin is simply a matter of adding 270 or so. Meaning K is most likely 373. Now what about the other two? D is for Delisle. Del-what? It’s a really obscure temperature scale. You’ve probably never heard of it. Do you know what the boiling point is in Delisle? Yes. Delisle is special because the boiling point is 0. And how do you know this, exactly? That’s... a good question. Probably an online encyclopedia. I see... now what about N? Does it matter? By process of elimination, N must be 33. That’s it, then! D, N, C, F, K! I’ll punch it in!  D-N-C-F-K... please be right!Or, if you solved the puzzle yourself (as Quackles, Blueberry Pancakes and Stabbey_the_Clown did): quote:Aether: D, N, C, F, K? I like the detail that Ink guessed D and N, because I also guessed those on my first playthrough! The spelling goes a bit awry here, though; after five chapters of pretty technically solid writing, we suddenly see both Celsius and Fahrenheit misspelled in the same line. Back to our playthrough! The screen shakes, and we hear a click. That’s the door! I think it’s unlocked! Right!Rae started for the door first. As soon as he gripped the handle, however, he snapped his hand back.   Without hesitation, Beth grabbed the handle and heaved the door open. The music stops. I still can’t believe Beth ended up joint last in the thread votes. Beth is rad. Cool air poured in from the neighbouring room. Beth held the door open with her foot as the other Contestants, Ink included, ran through.  The damp passage offered instant relief from the grueling heat of the boiler room. Ink stumbled over to the nearest wall and leaned against it; the smooth stone was welcomingly cool. Still panting, he watched as Beth alternated between blowing on her palms and placing them on the cold stone wall. She must have burnt her hands when she opened that door. Adrenaline trumps pain, I guess. Idiot!There’s the sound of an impact, and the screen shakes. An angry Liza cut short Ink’s moment of relief.  You’d better apologize this instant! Apologize? For what? You’re the one goin’ around slapping people! You almost got me killed! I made it very clear that nobody was to touch that valve! If I hadn’t turned the valve, the clue would never have appeared, and we’d still be stuck in there. We might have been able to find the answer without the clue! We wouldn’t have had to put ourselves in harm’s way! And how do you suppose we would have accomplished that? There were thousands of possible combinations. (Music: Ad Nauseam (Tendrils)) The screen shakes.  Spit flew from Liza’s lips as she yelled. Instinctively, Ink took a few steps back, though there wasn’t much room to move.  Nobody asked for your opinion, thanks!The screen shakes.   The screen shakes. “Grandma”?! Only my actual grandchildren have the right to call me that!Beth’s eyes narrowed and her breathing grew heavy. Rae’s comment had made her angrier than Ink thought possible.   What a silly reason to throw a tantrum. You had best get your act together... graaaandma.The screen shakes. You…!Geez, even Beth is joining in. This is turning into one huge mess. ...They’ll be at it for a little while, I bet. This might be my chance. Hey, Aether. Y-Yeah? Can I talk to you for a sec? Is now really the best time? Yes. But we can’t talk here. Come with me.Ink turned and began to walk back towards the boiler room door.  We need to talk. Privately. There’s only one place we’ll be able to do that. But it’s still boiling hot in there!The music stops. I need you to trust me on this one, Aether. You do trust me, right? Thanks. I’ll make it as quick as possible.Ink shoved the door open with his jacketed arm, not daring to touch the iron with his bare hands. We hear a metal door creak open and slam shut.  I would not have gone back in here. I guess the room’s designed to cool itself after we’ve solved the puzzle. Or something.   I have a favour to ask. It’s important. Okay, but why ask me here? I want to avoid… someone. Even now, I’m not sure how safe we are, but it’s worth a shot. Be as quiet as you can, okay? We don’t have long, so I need your full attention.   The text ‘paranoia’ under the trust rankings is new; there was previously just a question mark there! The paranoia meter is an originally-planned mechanic that I think was largely scrapped, though; I don’t think it does much in the final game. Rith fucked around with this message at 09:16 on Sep 6, 2022 |
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Nov 11, 2021 09:21
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I bet Ink is going to tell Aether something like "When I was in my elevator, I heard 'Contestants', when Liza was in hers alone she heard 'Contestant', therefore Sent must have said different things and can't be one of us." I hope he has something better than that, because this place clearly has sensors in it, so it would be trivial to tell if an elevator has multiple people inside and play a different pre-recorded message.
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Nov 11, 2021 14:00
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:I bet Ink is going to tell Aether something like "When I was in my elevator, I heard 'Contestants', when Liza was in hers alone she heard 'Contestant', therefore Sent must have said different things and can't be one of us." I hope he has something better than that, because this place clearly has sensors in it, so it would be trivial to tell if an elevator has multiple people inside and play a different pre-recorded message. It’s also possible that “Sent” isn’t just one person - maybe there’s an inside man who’s part of the group to help steer things *and* an outside man in a control room who’s running things too.
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Nov 11, 2021 14:50
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Nov 11, 2021 16:47
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Everyone's bullying Beth for being old. 
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Nov 11, 2021 16:49
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7.1: Enemy This chapter hits the puzzle fairly early on, so today’s update is slightly shorter than usual.   The clock is ticking. (Music: Stranglehold)   As he watched from the sidelines, Ink was struck with an idea.  It was still miserably hot, but Ink had a request for her, and he couldn’t ask her anywhere but there.  Please, Aether, I need you to trust me on this one. So long as my suspicions are right, they won’t judge either of us. And if you’re wrong? Then I’ll tell them I put you up to it. Don’t worry, I’ll be the one to take the fall. No, Aether — as hard as you can, okay? It’s got to be loud. I’m sorry I can’t tell you anything right now, but you’re the only person I can trust with this. This will all make sense soon, I swear. I know, Aether. I’m sorry. Once our opportunity presents itself, you need to go for it right away. Don’t hesitate at all, you hear? I’m counting on you, detective. Yeah, we’re done here. Sorry for dragging you back in.Shielding his hand with his sleeve, Ink pulled the burning hot door back open. We hear the door creak open and slam shut.   Well, at least they’ve stopped fighting. Did, uh, anyone have a look at the puzzle yet?The music stops. ... Rae? C’mon, you’re usually the first one to try and solve it... Say, Ink...(Music: Punishing Fire)  Huh? Oh, uh... nothing, nothing. Anyway, we ought to get started—The screen shakes.   Unless what? Do I have to spell it out for you? You think I’m Sent, don’t you? Either you, or Aether, or both of you. Looks to me like you’re just trying to avoid suspicion. Oh, come on! We leave the room for five minutes and you all think we’re the ones behind this?! That’s insane! All we’re asking is that you tell us what you two were doing in the boiler room. And if I refuse?  ’Course I can. I out-muscle the two of you, easy. Keeping the door shut won’t be a problem, either, considering how hot the handle is on the other side. You’re seriously threatening to throw us back in there?! You seem like good kids, but it’s clear you’re keeping something important from us. So please, just tell us what it was you were up to.This isn’t good; if I tell them here, it could ruin everything! I just need a little more time...! What about Liza, huh?! She’s hiding something, too, and you don’t seem to be threatening her! See? Look how quiet she is! If you aren’t going to pressure her for answers, then I don’t see how you can justify pressuring Aether and me. Liza is different. Different? Rae, you said yourself that Liza just screams suspicion! Why are they ignoring Liza all of a sudden? How about this, then: let us help you guys solve this next puzzle. The moment we enter the next room, I’ll tell you anything you want to know. Right, Aether? Now why the hell would I agree to that? In the worst case scenario, you’ll at least be one puzzle closer to getting out of here. And in the best case scenario... well, we’ll see.The music stops.  Please, Rae... just be a little patient. You aren’t going to talk it over with Beth or Liza? I don’t need permission from seniors or 15-year-olds. Whatever. Alright... we might get our chance after all. I can’t screw this up!  Something a little different this time! There are five tile slots; you can fill the slots by clicking on the tiles at the bottom (the slots are filled in sequence from left to right). As the ‘use at least 2 different tiles’ aspect of the instructions suggests, tiles can be reused. Rith fucked around with this message at 09:17 on Sep 6, 2022 |
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Nov 14, 2021 10:03
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This is definitely another one of those "filled out what I could then brute-forced the rest" puzzles. Though this one was, at least to me, way harder than the ones immediately before and after.
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Nov 14, 2021 10:09
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OK, I think I get it. Numbering the tiles 1 through 5, from left to right, I'd say... 3, 4, 5, 3, (1 or 2, probably 2) Basically, there's three tiles of one type in each pattern, and one of another type. So the tiles 3, 4, and 5 are the three tiles for this pattern, and since the pattern hinges on rotation, those three are rotations of each other so that sets the order. Then you can guess the last one, though from the rotation I'm inferring #2 over #1.
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Nov 14, 2021 10:51
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I think I got a solution, using the same numbering as Quackles: 2, 1, 2, 2, 5 The first three are a clockwise rotation of the same tile, the fourth is the first tile repeated and the fifth is the first tile's right side mirrored. I think it holds for all the examples and is the only way I could figure out patterns #2 and #3. Might have other solutions though? Thanks for the LP Rith! Eager to see where the story goes from here. I love the "death game" genre and originally joined SA for the Danganronpa LP by orenoren and been hooked on LPs ever since.
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Nov 14, 2021 12:24
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Looking at that, I'm completely lost even though the instructions are the clearest yet. I don't even understand what those buttons at the bottom mean.
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Nov 14, 2021 14:40
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7.2: The Seventh Puzzle (Music: Battle of Wits)  I really don’t want to get thrown back in the boiler room. Me neither. Just remember what I told you and everything should work out. But what if, you know... I don’t get the opportunity? Maybe we should just tell them... “Tell them”? ...No. Aether is just fooling around. R-Right. Just fooling around. Are you absolutely sure about that? We’ve got nothing to tell you. Not right now. So be it.drat... I don’t suppose I’ll be able to speak to Aether if we can be heard so easily... Come on, Beth; it’s a puzzle, and I have an established pattern of asking everyone in sight for help. It’d be more suspicious if I didn’t speak to Aether.  No hints from Aether for this one, I suppose!  I know, I know. It’s just... I can’t tell you anything right now. Sorry. You have nothing to gain from withholding information. Would it kill you to leave us alone? Seriously, get off our case. Do you dislike talking to me? I never said that! I just want to get this puzzle solved before we worry about anything else. So be it. I’ll continue to assist you with this puzzle, but the moment we’re in the next room, you must explain everything.Will someone please just help me spatially reason? Ink, over here. It’s about the puzzle.Ah, crap. I’m gonna look suspicious if I refuse to talk to her. Sure, what is it? I think I may have deduced something about this pattern we’re supposed to find. Perhaps you’ve already noticed, but it appears that for each of the rows, the first and fourth tiles are the same. Oh, huh. You’re right. I’d wager that this is the case for the fourth row as well. Let’s make sure our first and fourth tiles are identical. Good insight. I’ll keep that in mind.I’m not clear on why Ink considers refusing to talk to her here. I suppose being under suspicion rankles, but there’s still a puzzle to be solved! I’ve noticed something else. Oh? What is it? Only the right-most tile ever changes shape. Tiles one to four are all the same shape, just with different orientations. But the fifth tile can be a different shape altogether. What about the top row? The one with the triangles? That one has the same shape as the others in that row. That’s right. But I think that will be the key to deducing how the fifth tile behaves. We should pay careful attention to the fourth and fifth tiles to see if we can figure out what exactly the connection is. Will do. Thanks again, Beth.If you speak to Beth again, Ink just asks her to repeat her observations. Let’s try Rae.  Any idea how we’re supposed to go about that? Well, the three rows above the answer area seem to follow a set pattern from left to right. I’m assuming we just have to mirror those transformations in the fourth row using the shapes at the bottom. We’re on the same page, then. I figure there’s only one possible solution and that it’s five symbols long. That’s a safe bet, yeah. Hey, uh... since we’re working together here, does that mean you trust me again? Hell no. You said that you’d only tell us what’s going on after this puzzle has been solved. I’m just speeding that up.Somehow ‘thinks we might be Sent’ Rae is still less scary than ‘Jesus Christ, I can’t believe you can’t draw a loving Z’ Rae. Hey, Rae. What is it? Any idea which symbol is supposed to go first? It would be way easier to solve this thing if I knew what our starting point was. Not exactly. But I’m close. If you look at the other three rows, you’ll notice that each shape in the second column is the same as the shape in the first column, but rotated clockwise 90 degrees. So if you think about it that way, our first and second shapes need to be identical, except rotated 90 degrees clockwise. Oh, I getcha. That narrows it down a bit. Now we’ve just got to figure out the rest of it...By ‘we’ he presumably means himself and Beth, because Ink has not instilled confidence in his puzzle-solving skills in this playthrough. Any progress, Rae? I think I’m close to solving this thing. Oh yeah? What have you got so far? We'll need to start with the second button. The one with the L shapes in the bottom-left and top-right corners. And if we rotate that 90 degrees clockwise, we get the shape that corresponds to our first button. The one with the L shapes in the bottom-right and top-left corners. I’m pretty sure those are the first two shapes in the sequence. Awesome. Thanks, Rae. Yeah, aren't you happy...That leaves three whole spaces! Come on, Rae, don’t you have any more for us? Hey, Rae— It’s not that— Or do you want me to toss you into the boiler room right now? Is that it? Calm the hell down. I was just wondering where you were at. Second button, first button, second button. Huh? That’s the order for the first three. I’ve based it off the order of the shapes in the first three rows. They all rotate 90 degrees clockwise, and then again. I’m still trying to figure out the rest. Second button, first button, second button... got it!If you try to ask Rae again, you just get Ink reminding himself of Rae’s reasoning: It looks like Rae’s still thinking hard on this one. He said that the first three shapes were, in order: second button, first button, second button. Maybe someone else can help me solve the rest. And that ‘someone else’ is Liza, right?  What do you want? You’ve been unusually quiet. What’s going on? Nothing. Leave me alone. You’re a terrible liar. Why are Beth and Rae going easy on you all of a sudden? They know as well as I do that you’re hiding something. That has nothing to do with this. So you are hiding something! Shut up! Stop trying to trick me into telling you stuff! It’s dangerous! Finish the puzzle, you degenerate! And stop talking to me! Sure, sure...Dangerous, she says. Just what are you hiding, Liza? Come on, Liza, help out with a puzzle for once.  But the way she’s using her Gemini... She really IS slow at texting. Maybe she was telling the truth about that.  Burgundious got this one!  The music stops. There we go. Puzzle solved. (Music: Stranglehold (Rack)) Did anyone else find that puzzle strange? What about it do you find strange? Seemed like a riddle to me. Perhaps a tad, but this one seemed more grounded in logic than the others. It was less... abstract. You think there’s something about it that went over our heads? Eh, maybe...There’s an electronic chirp.    It should be noted, however, that Exit/Corners is far from over. The next chamber you will enter— We hear a sharp slap. The screen shakes, and the music stops.  He staggered to his feet, exaggerating a little.  I... didn’t, um...Aether, flustered, was apparently having difficulty explaining what she had just done. Ink smiled at her. It’s okay. You can tell them. Is this true, Ink?! We owe it to Aether to confirm this, I think! It is. People are drawn to conflict, that’s why. Even Rae hadn’t noticed it yet. Ink couldn’t help but smirk. (Music: Thoughtlace) I really like this piece of music. Very Ghost Trick. Conflict lies at the heart of any good story. It’s what keeps people interested. It fascinates them. When Aether slapped me, she created an immediate and obvious conflict. Your human nature got the better of you, and everyone in the room turned their attention to Aether.   My, my...
Rith fucked around with this message at 09:19 on Sep 6, 2022 |
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Nov 17, 2021 08:54
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I love this reveal.  I also love how the CG puts an expression of pure disdain on Aether's face as she's slapping Ink. Like she's just so tired of his poo poo rather than setting up a trick. Maybe the context of the image was different in the original planning.
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Nov 17, 2021 09:05
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B-b-b-busted!
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Nov 17, 2021 09:10
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dang, that's a good setup and reveal. Also I never would have solved that puzzle, I suck at that kind of logic 
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Nov 17, 2021 09:12
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This was the moment I went from just thinking Ink was pretty good as a protagonist to loving him.
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Nov 17, 2021 09:29
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Junpei posted:This was the moment I went from just thinking Ink was pretty good as a protagonist to loving him. And the music is perfect. Thoughtlace is basically Ink's Objection or Samurai Woman.
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Nov 17, 2021 09:42
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Omg I just love this. Going into a story in the same overall death game genre as Zero Escape, you kind of expect all kinds of crazy-rear end plans and twists to happen, and then this is so simple and direct with such mundane means. It's beautiful.
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Nov 17, 2021 10:02
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Another really subtle detail is that Sent began phasing out the "This is a pre-recorded message" part of its speech almost immediately after the first few instances.
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Nov 17, 2021 10:13
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That was a clever way to prove the point.
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Nov 17, 2021 16:56
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Simple and effective, I like it. Well played Ink, well played indeed. Also, I note that Liza has been strangely silent in the aftermath of the slap. Maybe it’s just where Rith cut the update but…shouldn’t she have reacted too?
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Nov 17, 2021 21:14
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It's always nice when a zero escape protagonist reveals they're more clever than a bowl of warm oatmeal, and Ink's gotten off to a great start.
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Nov 18, 2021 00:29
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So I'm guessing the real deal with the elevator scene is that Ink figured out Sent wasn't talking to every elevator at once. It'd be easy enough to rig up a device to detect which elevator had multiple people, but if none of the conversations were overlapping, that's actually suspicious. Beth, Liza, and Rae got in their elevators at around the same time, and then Aether and Ink had a short delay before they entered, so if it had been pre-recorded Beth, Liza, and Rae should have all been getting the same message at roughly the same time, right when they'd have been expecting to get the message after touching the scanner. But Liza was startled, which implies there was a delay, because Sent was giving the message to someone else first.
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Nov 18, 2021 19:21
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7.3: Hello, Contestant (Music: Thoughtlace) The screen shakes.  No matter. I had planned on telling you eventually.The screen shakes.   Then you’ve been watching us this whole time! That should be obvious at this point.The screen shakes.  As a matter of fact, I am. Is that not the purpose of a game? You better fuckin’ hope I never find you, or I swear to Christ imma put so much hurt on you you’ll wish you were fuckin’ dead! Although I adore your zeal, Mr. Nandon, I believe I’m in a much better position to be making that kind of statement. Do you need to ask, my wonderful Liza? Indeed, I know many, many things.  Truth be told, I don’t expect you to tell me. I’m simply... curious.Ink paused, unsure if he wanted to share his secrets with the person who had captured him. Is there really any harm explaining at this point? I bet the other Contestants want to know, too... Well, the first thing that tipped me off... ‘Were your pre-message announcements’ is clearly a better answer, but it loses us a trust point with Liza, who’s our trust priority! (It gains us one with Beth.) We’re instead going to have to go with ‘was your smug demeanour’, which gets us a point with Aether. The first thing that tipped me off was your smug demeanor. Your “recordings” were so... eclectic. So playful. I kept thinking to myself, “This is the kind of guy who likes to play with his food”. That kind of person wouldn’t put himself in danger and be a Contestant. No, they’d rather play God from behind the safety of a monitor. Who cares? I wasn’t wrong, was I?Because it’s interesting to see Ink’s reasoning, here’s the other option as well: quote:Ink: The first thing that tipped me off were your pre-message announcements. You only reminded us that your messages were recordings when one of us tried to speak to you. I found it strange that you would remind us more than once. When we had stopped trying to communicate with you, the reminders stopped. Of course, this didn’t really prove anything, but in retrospect it was a little strange. It was actually thanks to Liza that I was able to figure it out in the end. Fascinating. Do tell, Ink. Yeah, you. You said something in the boiler room that really got me thinking. It was... ‘I’d rather say nothing at all’ gets us two points with Liza, and Liza is at the top of the trust priority rankings, but ‘Hello, Contestant!’ gets us a point with everyone. ...“Hello, Contestant”!The screen whites out for a moment.   The screen whites out again.  You seemed pretty adamant that you heard Sent say, “Hello, Contestant!”. However, when Sent spoke to me, he opened with, “Hello, Contestants!”. Now, why do you think he would’ve used “Contestants” when talking to me, but “Contestant” — singular — when talking to Liza? That’s right. His pluralization probably wasn’t even intentional; he just did it subconsciously because he saw that there was more than one person in the elevator! So he could see us in there? Of course he could. It’s the only way he could’ve known which elevator had two people in it. Remember how we had to put our hands on those elevator scanners to get them to move? Only I did; you never even touched the thing. Any Contestant could have gone in any elevator and I could have partnered up with any Contestant I wanted. The only way he could’ve known which elevator had two people in it was if he had been watching us in real-time.As Stabbey_the_Clown points out, the lifts could have had weight sensors, but I can believe ‘Hello, Contestant’ might at least raise suspicions in Ink and lead him to try to confirm them (which, of course, he’s now done!). Liza may have her share of paranoid suspicions, but she is right about one thing — Sent does have front-row seats to this game of his. Hidden cameras would be the obvious guess. Interesting... Well, Liza seemed pretty confident that her hearing was perfect, so I took a shot and trusted her. And hey, it was worth a try. Anything’s better than constantly being on the defensive. I’m sure Ink could answer your question if he was so inclined. No trust changes here, so I’ll just go with what makes most sense to me. Sent’s attention was split between two rooms. Aether and I were whispering in the boiler room, while three Contestants were having a heated argument in this one. Which one do you think he’d rather pay attention to? I’m sorry for not filling you in on the whole thing, Aether. At the time, I wasn’t actually sure that he could see us in there, so I wanted to disclose as little information as I could get away with.I feel that’s probably meant to be ‘wasn’t actually sure that he couldn’t see us in there’. Now, though, I’m positive of two things.  Firstly, since you’ve gone to such great lengths to convince us that your messages were recordings, you must have had something to gain from having us believe it. And? What else? The music stops.  Do you think this means you’ve outsmarted me, Mr. Greer? No, I think it means I’ve outsmarted your entire team. You’re saying you built this place all on your own? Nice try, but I don’t buy it. You’re correct in that I didn’t build anything. However, I alone am responsible for this game’s design. The layout, the puzzles, the Contestant selection... these things were decided entirely by me. Tell yourself whatever helps you sleep at night. You’re still playing Exit/Corners. Your lives still belong to me until you find the Exit. Please don’t let that little stunt you pulled go to your head. As the one who brought you here, I could crush you at any moment. Any moment at all! Tell me, Sent: why did you bring us here? I think we’re entitled to know. You are entitled to nothing!It went by too quickly for me to catch it, but Sent scowled for this line and the screen zoomed in on his eye! Blueberry Pancakes has succeeded where I failed: Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve grown rather tired of talking with you. There. I’ve unlocked the door. You’ll just have to figure out the next room on your own. Sent zips off the screen. drat! I can’t believe he was watching us this whole time... Given how I’ve begged everyone for hints at every opportunity, that’s probably a fair response. (Music: Peace of Mind) Aw, come on. You really have that little faith in me? This is a mark of our trust level with Rae! If our trust had been lower, he’d have responded with ‘You haven’t exactly impressed me thus far.’  Yes. That was clever of you. Thanks. I’m just trying to do my part to get us out of here. By the way, Ink... Yeah?  We thought at least one of ya would fall for the threat and tell us what you were up to. So it was just an empty threat? That’s a relief... I just hate bein’ left in the dark. It’s cool. I understand. Yeah... I mean, why was it necessary to pretend that his messages were recordings? If that were the case, why didn’t he actually use recordings instead of pretending to? Who knows how long this game is? What if one of us dies or refuses to advance? What if one of us broke the rules somehow? Sent might need to change any given message at a moment’s notice to fit his needs. I guess he doesn’t have things figured out as well as we thought. That’s right. I think Sent has much less power than he wants us to believe. And now that I know that he ain’t one of you, I have a feeling it’ll be a lot easier to figure out what exactly he wants with us.The music stops. There’s a brief pause.  So what if Sent isn’t one of us? That doesn’t change anything! Someone here could still be an accomplice of his! Not this again. Please, just cooperate with us. Otherwise—The screen shakes.  Don’t think you can threaten me, Ink!She still thinks that one of us is an accomplice, even though she’s clearly the most suspicious person here. Maybe I was wrong about her.   Please, just listen to me for a sec. Ink put his complete trust in you to fool Sent, remember? The least you could do is place a little trust in him yourself. Please, can’t we just cooperate until we get out of here? I want to help you, but that’s going to be difficult if you keep acting the way you are. Ink sighed. For a little while, at least, he could relax around Liza. Thank you, Liza. You have no idea how much easier this’ll make everything. Happy to have me on board, huh? I don’t believe that for a second. That’s a—The screen shakes and goes fuzzy for an instant.  Huh? What’s wrong, Liza? Argh... not this again... Liza? Is something the matter?(Music: Ad Nauseam)  Liza and Aether fade off the screen. In a span of seconds, Liza’s face drained of all its colour. Ink could see dark red beads forming at the corners of her lips as she started to cough. She put her arm over her mouth, but it did little to help. The screen flashes red. The blood went everywhere. Still coughing, Liza fell to her knees. Ink could only stare in morbid wonder as her spasms grew worse and worse, whipping her tiny frame across the floor. The screen goes dark. She’s coughing up blood. Just like me... Ink couldn’t help but pity her. Whatever her affliction was, she was clearly in pain. The music stops. As bad as he felt for her, Ink still had one big problem with Liza. drat it, what am I supposed to think about her? How does she fit into all of this? I can’t stop thinking about our little elevator ride. Something still doesn’t add up.  
Rith fucked around with this message at 09:22 on Sep 6, 2022 |
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Nov 20, 2021 09:41
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Rith posted:It went by too quickly for me to catch it, but Sent scowled for this line and the screen zoomed in on his eye! 
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Nov 20, 2021 15:16
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Thank you for doing that; that's great! I've added this into the post.
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Nov 20, 2021 15:42
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