|
My first attempt, I tried 3-3-3-3-2, which does beat a Royal Flush if 2s are wild, but no such luck.
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2021 00:19
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 8, 2024 18:59 |
|
|
13.1: The Garden  The clock is ticking. (Music: Stranglehold (Rack), 0.5 speed) I’m not sure what’s going on with Beth, exactly.  I was worried that she’d still be a bit mopey about dropping her Gemini earlier, but she seems to have gotten over that.  You’ve got to wonder who was on the other end of her Gemini, though... Anyway, as soon as we walked into this latest room, Beth kinda... stopped. She yelled about for a bit, then sat down under the tree and went quiet. There isn't a word missing here; 'yelled about for a bit' is in the script. It might be a regional usage I'm not familiar with. What is this place, anyway?  Beth? Come on, say something. You’ve got us worried. Beth closes her eyes again. So what, is she just going to sit there forever? Ink stepped away from the tree. He was worried about Beth, but felt that his prodding fell on deaf ears. The other Contestants seemed happy to leave her alone. Would it kill someone else to go talk to her? Anyone?  Well, she said the garden was “hers”. I guess she has – or had – a garden that looked a lot like this one. That’s my best guess, anyway. Yeah...The room grew quiet, save for the sound of Rae stomping through foliage.  Even Liza was quiet. She was whispering, which Ink figured was a first for her. What, you don’t like plants?  I don’t want to linger here any longer than we need to.  Yeah, we heard. Did you find anything?  There’s only one door in here, and that’s the one we came through. So unless there’s a hidden door somewhere, we’ll need to head back the way we came. It’s a dead end, then. Remember what Sent said about The Four Elements. There are four pathways, each of which lead to a “Corner”. And each Corner has a key. At least, that’s what Sent said. The problem is that I have no idea where the key is or even what it looks like. Did your cursory search turn up any puzzles? Not yet. There’s a monitor at the back, but right now it’s just a blank screen. Anything else of note? Other than that, no. Nothing obvious, anyway.The music stops.   If this is her garden, she’d know it front to back. ...Right? Yeah, you’d think so. Everyone’s afraid to talk to her. Ink was no exception. He had always considered Beth the most grounded of the group. What was he to do when their most well-adjusted member shut herself down and refused to communicate? The other Contestants appeared to share Ink’s apprehension. Even Aether seemed to be waiting for someone else to make the first move. Well, someone needs to say something or we’ll never get out of here. Ink took an awkward step forward. ...Fine. I’ll have a word with her.(Music: All Is Dust) Ink reached out to her.    “Take good care of the garden”. It’s the last thing he said to me. You mentioned that. But it wasn’t easy, you know. No, it wasn’t easy at all. It’s an impressive sight. The Garden, I mean. I’m sure it took a lot of work. ...Do you have a favorite book, Ink? That I do. And how many times have you read that book, hm? Seven times, I think. Maybe eight. I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it. If you repeat the same task for long enough, my dear, you start to go mad. Things are so trite, so stagnant, that your brain begins to see changes where there are none. That sounds awful. And that’s not where it ends, either. When your mind rots for a time, your body follows suit. Even simple tasks – watering a flower, pulling a weed – become debilitating if you do them for decades on end.  Because it’s all I had left.What’s she going on about? Is this really your garden, Beth? I’m afraid I can’t answer that.  By all accounts, this place should not exist. It simply isn’t possible. I...The screen shakes.  Beth!First me, then Liza, now Beth... We must all have it, then. But is there something specific that triggers it? Beth took a moment to wipe the blood from her face before standing back up. Her legs were shaking.  How could Sent do this? Why would he do this? I don’t know, Beth.Ink wanted to ask her about the garden, about the key, but bit his tongue. He needed to choose his words carefully. In the center. Underground. Wh-What? I’ll have you know that I’ve got excellent hearing. I know you’re looking for a key, and while I don’t know what it looks like I feel like I might know where it is. If this garden is indeed a replica of my own, then it does hold one well-kept secret. If there is something hidden in my garden, then that’s where you’ll find it. In the very center of the garden, beneath the earth. Got it. Thanks, Beth.Ink pulled away, only for Beth to grab his wrist. Ink. What is it, Beth? I wouldn’t dream of it. Very well.The music stops.   Will you guys help me dig up whatever’s under the soil? Of course I will. Yeah. Let’s get sweatin’.The two of them made their way to the center of the room, kicked aside a few stones, and began to dig. At least they’re eager enough to help with the dirty part of the job. Now all that’s left is...   You want me to help, too? I can’t force you, but you ought to. Then what is your thing? Whatever. Can you at least pretend to be a decent human being and keep that poor woman company while we dig? ... It’s like talking to a log. Fine, do whatever you want.Ink left Liza to her thoughts.  The soil was soft and cool to the touch. He grabbed a lump with both hands and threw it behind him. Pebble-peppered dirt found its way under Ink’s fingernails as he continued to dig. He was panting before long, growing more tired with every uncovered inch. This is going to take forever... The screen fades to black.  Oh! Guys, over here!Ink stopped digging, hopeful that Aether had found something.  At Aether’s feet, in the hole she had dug, lay a small wooden chest, dirt clinging to its sides. Ink picked it up.   Doesn’t look like any chest I’ve ever seen. What’re those tabs at the top? No idea. Go on, open it.Chk. Useless. The lid was sealed tight. No good. There’s a lock in place. I’ll smash it open, then.  Open it for us, then. You know how, right? I’m afraid not. This is your chest, isn’t it? How could you not know? A puzzle? That’s a safe bet, I’d say. I would prefer if you didn’t. Would you mind giving it a try, Ink? You seem especially good at puzzle-solving. Oh, ignore me, fine! Real mature! Please. It would mean a lot to me.Be more cryptic, why don’t you...   But Rae—The screen shakes.  I swear to God, Ink, if you waste our time on this stupid chest... These choices affect trust rankings substantially! Saying you’ll work it out gains you one point with Aether and Beth, and loses one with Rae and Liza. Letting Rae break it open gains you two points with Rae and one point with Liza, but loses one point with Aether and three points with Beth. According to the thread votes, I’m meant to be prioritising the trust of Liza and Rae, so I should probably break it open. But. But this is a puzzle game. I’m not just going to skip a puzzle here. It’s possible I’m just using this as an excuse not to be an arsehole to Beth, but I’m the Let’s Player, so you’re going to have to deal with that. I’ll figure it out. You fuckin’...! Give me that! Calm down, Rae! This’ll take five minutes, tops. It won’t make or break our escape. Beth is... going through a lot right now, it seems. We can do this one little thing for her. Oh, and I won’t be helping you. You’re on your own, pal. That’s fine by me. Go for a walk or something.Rae left with an angry stride. Ink paid him no mind.  This had better be worth it, Beth...  The goal is to turn all the six grey tabs green. If you click on one of the tabs, it will flip from grey to green (or vice versa), and so will all the tabs vertically and horizontally adjacent to it. It does this via FANCY CGI where the relevant tabs lift up, then rotate and then sit back down. This means that every move takes a couple of seconds, and moves can’t be cancelled – if a tab is in the process of turning green, nothing is going to prevent it from ending up green when it settles – but, hey, it looks cool. So, for example, if you click on the tab on the centre left:   (The brighter green tab here is just the one my mouse was hovering over.) Or, if you then click on the top right:   As a reminder, here’s our starting position again:
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2021 10:20
|
|
|
I can understand why this one wasn't timed, but it would've been a fun bit of verisimilitude if it was.
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2021 10:35
|
|
|
Oh, a "Lights Out" puzzle, those can be tricky, but fun. The solution to this one isn't immediately coming to me, though. I wonder what would happen if Ink asked his friend Seth to guess a number, any number, between 1 and 100,000 that Ink is thinking of. I'm betting that Seth would get exactly the right number. Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 14:22 on Dec 23, 2021 |
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2021 14:19
|
|
|
Answer: I... don't think you can solve it? With two lights lit on opposite corners of a 2x3 grid, I think it's impossible. For this, it's good to work backwards from the answer, where all six are lit. The only way you can get it to a solvable state is to have three lights lit along a corner. So, you would have the top row lit and then one light on the second row lit, with none of the bottom row lit. Or vice versa, with the bottom row lit, etc. Now, there's two ways to get to there. Either a completely off grid (which is just the answer, reversed) or having all of the bottom and top lights on. If you do that, then just selecting one of the corners as your move will put you in a winning position. But, none of the moves availble can get you there. The closest you can do is get either all left or all right lit up. There's probably a math-y way of proving it, but I'm pretty convinced it's intentionally impossible. dervival posted:Oh boo, so it wasn't a unique solution? Shame on you, Sent! The puzzles so far do make it seem like Sent is more interested in being clever than being a good puzzlemaster, if that makes sense. Capfalcon fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Dec 23, 2021 |
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2021 15:07
|
|
|
Capfalcon posted:The puzzles so far do make it seem like Sent is more interested in being clever than being a good puzzlemaster, if that makes sense. Well he's not being that clever either 
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2021 15:10
|
|
|
Ah, it's one of those puzzles I solve by just spam clicking everywhere until something comes up that looks workable. Cmon Rae, if there was ever a time for brute force, it's now. NOT the box breaking kind.
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2021 16:09
|
|
|
Capfalcon posted:Answer: Ah... no wonder why I wasn't making progress trying to solve it legitimately. And no wonder why "let Rae smash the box" is even given as an option.
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2021 17:13
|
|
|
This puzzle is such hilarious bullshit.
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2021 17:30
|
|
|
Thread really should have had more votes for Rae, because these are looking like some Rae-like answers here.
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2021 17:49
|
|
|
Rith posted:
Does this mean you click multiple lights at the same time? If so: Click middle-right and then lower-left during the turning to make the entire left side green. Then do middle-left and upper-right during the turning to make everything grey, and then you do two of the opposite corners. That should work, I think? EDIT: Actually, you could just press the middle-left twice and then do lower-right during the second turning and everything should be green? devildragon777 fucked around with this message at 12:14 on Dec 25, 2021 |
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2021 12:06
|
|
|
Content warning: strong themes of suicide. 13.2: The Chest (Music: Battle of Wits, 0.75 speed)   Why? She’s wasting our time. There’s clearly something she wants to share with us, but she’s having trouble spitting it out. Oh, is that what it looks like to you? Because to me, it looks like she’s just sulking in the corner. I’ll talk to her if need be. For now, let’s try to figure this out on our own. Right. So it looks like there are 6 latches on this thing. ...Ugh, I hate this already.My usual left-to-right approach to hints would have me asking Beth first, but I think it makes more sense to leave Beth for last on this one. So... when we touch one tile, it changes colours. And every tile adjacent to it, too. I guess we’re supposed to turn them all one colour. Green, I’d wager. Why green? Um... just a hunch. We did go through the Green Door. Fair point. I’ve seen this type of puzzle before. I forget what it’s called, but I think it’s pretty common. Though I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one that’s three-by-two. They’re usually more complicated than that. That means it shouldn’t be too tough for you, right? It seems simple at a glance. I should have it solved pretty fast. Hmm...I’ve never been good at this sort of puzzle. You guys not solve this thing yet? We’re trying, Rae. Please be patient. It’s not too late to smash the thing. Here, gimme. No. We told Beth we’d solve it, so that’s what we’re going to do. Goddamnit! Don’t you want to get out of here?! Brute-force the loving thing, at least! Would that be faster? Easily. I’m familiar with this type of puzzle. The interesting thing about these puzzles is that tapping on a tile twice is like not tapping on the tile at all. So that means that tiles can only be flipped or not flipped. There are no intricate sequences to be followed. There are 6 latches, right? That means this puzzle only has 64 different states. Oh. That wouldn’t take long at all. Maybe I should try that... I don’t care how you solve this thing, just hurry the hell up.I’m not going to hurry up and you can’t make me. Something the matter, Ink? I... I can’t solve this. Is it too difficult? Or something else? This should be easy, but it feels impossible. Impossible? He’s right. I thought about the initial arrangement a bit. It’s mathematically impossible to turn all the tiles one colour. I thought you said you weren’t going to help. Eh. Got nothin’ else to do. Well, this wouldn’t be the first puzzle to seem impossible at first... There’s a trick to this puzzle. We just need to figure out what it is.Where do we even start? The first time I played this game, I was spinning these tabs for an extremely long time. There’s got to be a way to make all of the tiles green. What’s the trick...?Would Beth know? Sorry to bother you, Beth.  There’s an adjustable lock on the inside. The tabs on the lid can either be green or gray; the chest won’t open unless all of the tabs are green. Once they’re all green, you ought to be able to open it by pressing down the button in the center. I thought you said that Sent was the one who put this mechanism in. Ah... yes. That’s right. You seem to know a lot about it, though. It had a similar mechanism before. Is that so? ...Please have a good reason for this, Beth. It seems strange that Sent replaced the mechanism if the one before was similar. I have no idea what the hell I’m doing, Beth. Are you going to show me how to open this or what? What do you mean? Don’t play dumb, Beth. You’re stalling. I... You already know the answer. You know we’re wasting valuable time. You know that we’re not leaving until we open this thing. You don’t want us to open this. ...I’m afraid, Ink. Afraid of what, Beth?Just what the hell is in here? Can’t believe Beth won’t help us get into her chest full of spiders. I can’t give you any help, Ink. I’m sorry. My reflexes aren’t what they once were.Reflexes? That’s a good hint, but, if you want it spelled out more clearly (and we always do in this Let’s Play), you can ask Beth again: You’ve got to give me something, Beth. ... Please. We’ll die here if you don’t. It’s possible to tap on a tile while other tiles are spinning. That’s all I’m going to say.As the characters point out, if you just treat this as a normal ‘click on one thing at a time’ colour-changing puzzle, you’ll be clicking forever. But here's the position I got into with a bit of clicking around:  If you click on the top left tab, it will turn green, along with the top right and middle left tabs. If you then click on the bottom left tab while the first three tabs are changing, the middle left tab will continue turning green, rather than changing back to grey.  You can see here that the top left tab and the ones connected to it are settling into position – they’ve almost finished changing – whereas the bottom two are still mid-change.  And here’s the result. Capfalcon correctly identified the puzzle as impossible to solve by standard means. devildragon777 realised that, as each move takes a while, it might be possible to click on tabs while others are changing, and came up with a valid solution (their first suggestion; I don't think the second would work), although it's not the one I've shown here. When you click on the central button, you get the normal ‘puzzle solved’ bleep, but we don’t see the usual ‘Ink activates the touchscreen’ graphic, as there’s no touchscreen here. The music stops.   I had to press on some of the tiles while other tiles were spinning. It was the only way to make them all the same colour.  A gloomy Beth shook her head. Ink’s brow furrowed in confusion. Go on. Open it.The screen fades out, and we hear the chest being opened.  That’s the key – it must be. But... There’s gotta be a couple million in there. Is this your money, Beth?There was a silence for a time.   It’s tainted money. I want nothing of it.  Ah. Condolences. Thank you. Say, Beth... What’s wrong, Ink? Why do you have that look on your face? (Music: All Is Dust) There’s a brief pause. They usually don’t give out life insurance for suicides, Beth. I am aware. Then...?Another pause. Longer.  But Ellen was. And her husband, too. What?! Your daughter? Earthquakes that fierce were almost unheard of out west, so none of the buildings had been built to withstand them. We had mere seconds to react. Oh, Beth... Her face, her eyes... The bluntness and horror of Beth’s account almost made Ink laugh. Thankfully, Beth was staring at the ground and never saw his smile. It disappeared from his face in an instant. How could I laugh at that?! What’s wrong with me?  I had been unconscious for three whole months. They didn’t expect me to wake up from that dreamless sleep. Honestly, I wish I never had. The world saw fit to be cruel to me, I suppose. As for my son, he wasn’t even there that day. I was watching over his daughter for him. I couldn’t help but be angry right back at him. I told him if he’d been around that day, things might’ve gone differently. We fought and fought until finally, furious that his daughter had been robbed of her future, he cut all ties with me. That was the last time I’d spoken to him... until today. You never once tried to get back in touch with him? I contemplated it for a time. The insurance money was better left with him, I thought. I tried contacting him, in the end. But he never returned my calls. I grew worried. The music stops.  He never left a note, but I suppose he couldn’t live with the grief. Why didn’t you say anything sooner?! I thought he was your Contact! I’m afraid I can’t explain that part. Argh, I can’t believe this! It was YOU who said that it’d be best if we didn’t keep any secrets! Even now, I’m sure you don’t believe what I’ve just told you. Well, that’s my story. Belief or disbelief rests with you. Either way, I’m going to spend whatever time I have left missing my family.(Music: Ad Nauseam (Tendrils))   Sent! You leave right now!Beth let out a meek laugh. Ink couldn’t help but follow up with a chuckle of his own. Huh? Why am I...?   Tell me, Beth: what happens after prolonged exposure to nitrous oxide? If you keep pumping it into the room, we’ll soon be deprived of oxygen and pass out. ...And if you keep it up after that, everyone in the room will eventually die. What do you want, Sent? What do we need to do to get this door open?  Now that you’ve acquired the first key, I’ll unlock the red door for you. You may head back to the main lobby whenever you’re ready.The music stops.  Okay. One of them, however, didn’t budge.  (Music: Harrow) I’m staying.The screen shakes. Wh-What? Beth, if you stay, you’ll— I know what’ll happen if I choose to stay.  But why? Being in my garden... this is the happiest I’ve been in a very long time. Things haven’t been the same since I woke up from that three-month sleep all those years ago. You...! I have increased the flow of nitrous oxide. If you would like to avoid being put to sleep, I would advise you leave now. You loving planned this! That is correct. Now, if you’ll excuse me...Sent zips off the screen.  What’s Sent’s goal here? It’s so strange...  What about Beth? I’m not going to let you give up just like that! That’s insane! Ink... it’s her decision. Let her stay. You want to leave her?! It’s not worth risking anyone else’s life to save hers. I mean, statistically, she’ll probably die first anyway. How could you say that?! ...I’m leaving before this gas starts to seriously affect me. I’ll be waiting outside.Liza fades off the screen. Liza, wait!We hear a door slam. Ink’s pleas did nothing. Liza was gone.  Not you, too! Help me convince her to not throw her life away!  I see. In that case... take care, Beth. I’m counting on you to help the rest of them escape, you hear? Loud and clear, Beth. Wipe that grin off your face! This isn’t funny! S-Sorry. Must be the gas. I’m leaving. You should, too, before you get tired.Rae fades off the screen. Ink’s heart sank. We hear a door slam. Rae was gone. Damnit! ...hahaha.The nitrous oxide was starting to take its toll on Ink. He felt light, sleepy, and inexplicably happy.  I won’t. Not until you do. Thank you. I don’t want you to die on your account! I’ve had this coming for a long time. I deserve this. I know you blame yourself for what happened, but your family wouldn’t want you to throw your life away like this. I’ve already thrown my life away, Aether. My candle has been burning low for years. It’s about time someone snuffed it out.How do I change her mind on this? Do you know what nitrous oxide is used for? You use it to dull pain. It’s an anesthetic and analgesic. That’s right. I’ve been in pain for fourteen years, but in this room, I don’t feel it anymore. I feel like my family is right next to me. The garden, the lightheadedness... I’m happy. Beth... Aether and I won’t leave unless you do. Do you want to be responsible for our deaths as well? You think I’m kidding? I know you wouldn’t let Aether die and that she wouldn’t let you die, either.  We, um... Don’t be so bashful. You only get a few shots at young love, you know. Now go. Leave me to die. It won’t be so bad, really.The music stops.  I don’t know, Aether, I don’t know... The screen shakes, and the others disappear. Ink fell to one knee and stymied a laugh. A tingling sensation crept up his legs. (Music: Near-Death Experience) Atrophy gripped Ink as he tried to stand. He was telling his body to move, but it had stopped listening to him. He suddenly regretted staying in the room for so long. I... I can’t stand up. Aether tugged at Ink’s left arm, trying to peel him off the ground. I feel weak, Ink. The nitrous is eating at my strength. We need to leave. I... augh!In his delirium, all Ink could do was laugh. He was fraught with fear and still he laughed. Had the nitrous oxide really taken effect so quickly? I just wanted to help... The music stops. The door popped open behind him. Before Ink could even turn his head, he was already in the process of being hoisted by a figure on his right. (Music: Last Stand)  He did. It was much easier with Liza’s help. You came back? Beth can do what she wants, but I’m not letting you die. You’re our strongest puzzle-solver, loath as I am to say it. You’re my best chance for getting out of here alive and I’m not going to have you die over something as stupid as this. Stop trying to play the hero. Liza... Now let’s go, you—Liza’s grip on him loosened.  It was a quiet laugh. Edging closer and closer to madness, Ink’s mind was engulfed by a singular thought. She’s kinda cute when she smiles.  The music stops.  Still delirious, Ink crashed against a nearby wall and fell to the floor. The door slams, and the screen fades to black. With a loud thud, the door to the garden closed, never to reopen. There’s a pause. So...   
|
|
#
?
Dec 26, 2021 11:44
|
|
|
Beth's backstory is admittedly a little melodramatic, but it's presented well. I'll have more to say about it after the next update.
|
|
#
?
Dec 26, 2021 12:25
|
|
|
Content warning: references to suicide. 14.1: The Nature of Playing   The clock is ticking. (Music: Stranglehold (Rack)) That was close. I almost passed out in the garden. If I had actually gone under... that would’ve been it, I think. Let’s back up a bit.  There weren’t any doors leading forward, so we figured that this was one of the “Corners” Sent mentioned. Which meant that there was a key somewhere within. Beth thought she might know where it is, it being her garden and all: buried next to the lone tree. Seeing as we had no other leads, we started digging.   Her daughter, her son-in-law, her grandchildren... everyone but her son Earl. It was an earthquake that did them in. Beth was the only one to survive. Before I could even take this all in, Sent showed up. Told us that the room was filling with laughing gas and that we needed to evacuate if we wanted to live. We started to make our way out of the room, but something must have come over Beth, because she wasn’t going anywhere. She’d given up. We pleaded with her to get her to leave but she wouldn’t listen. All the while, I was getting groggy — that was the laughing gas at work. I lost the strength to stand. I don’t think I could have gotten back up if Liza hadn’t run back into the room to help me. And so she dragged me out of the garden, leaving Beth behind. It looked like Beth was going to die in there, but... So...   You helped me realize that I can still help the rest of you escape. You came back to get Ink because he’s good at solving those puzzles, hm? I can help with the puzzles, too. For me to die right now would be selfish. Once the lot of you have made it out safely... then I can worry about dying.The group shared an uneasy silence. Ink was happy Beth had changed her mind, but something about the whole situation felt off. How did Beth manage to leave that room all on her own? How is she still standing, even? I could barely move back there...  So am I. Thank goodness I came to my senses when I did.  The music stops. Rae flashed a green keycard in Beth’s direction. While we’re at it, let’s pop this sucker into the terminal and see what’s behind door number two.Yikes, I almost forgot about the key. Good thing Rae remembered to pick it up. Plink. Sean! Geez, it feels like forever since he last messaged me.  I can walk and type at the same time. Let’s just go.The screen fades to black. Let’s see if Sean found something out... (Music: Ad Nauseam, 0.5 speed)     The music stops.   Hey. Did the keycard work? Cool. Mind if we sit down for a minute? It might be a good idea for everyone to clear their heads a bit.Ink turned his head to Beth.  Sorry. It’s just... you were pretty close to doing something drastic. I want to make sure you’re doing better. Much better, thank you. I’d like to apologize for my behaviour earlier. I wasn’t thinking clearly and I didn’t mean to frighten anyone. Honestly? It was kind of impressive. That’s some expert-level prediction on Sent’s part. Sent misjudged me, I think. He doesn’t know what it’s like to have a grandmother’s intuition. Whatever that means. I don’t know if I’d go around saying that... Anyway, let’s take five. We’ll head into the Red door afterwards.(Music: Peace of Mind) Rae sat up. You going somewhere? No, just... oh, forget it.Rae fades off the screen.  If you say so. Say, I need to talk to Aether and Liza for a sec. You don’t mind, do you, Beth? Err, no, I just— Oh, um, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks.The screen fades out briefly.   Not at all! Have a seat. What about you, then? What do you do when you aren’t busy getting kidnapped? I’ve got an old pinball machine I like to play and I absolutely love to skate. Ooh, and of course I love to read! Fiction or non-fiction, if it’s interesting, I’ll read it! Do you read very much, Liza? Nothing wrong with that. We’re pretty bookish. Hmph. Okay. So what else do you do in your spare time? Why all the sudden fascination with me, huh? I’m just trying to be friendly. You saved my life back there; I want to get to know you better. I, um... I like to go swimming. When it’s nice out I like visiting the beach. I’ve been taking self-defence and martial arts courses ever since I was little. And I spend a lot of my free time listening to music. Who doesn’t? What kind of music do you like, Liza? If I had to guess... K-pop? And maybe a little hip hop, too. It’s really that obvious, huh? Is it the way I dress?Aether giggled. I’m pretty good at this kind of thing. What about work? Do you have a part-time job? No job right now... but I do spend a lot of time going through my father’s archives. Archives? Huh... that’s very responsible of you. I’m impressed. I’m sure you’ll do your father proud! Liza rose from her seat, a pink glow creeping into her cheeks. The music stops.  Hold up – there is a reason I wanted to talk to the both of you. My Contact Sean thinks he’s being followed. Tell your Contacts to watch their backs, just in case. Beth’s Gemini is broken and Rae doesn’t seem to care much about his Contact. I’ll try to get through to him, though. ...Okay. Thanks for the heads-up, Ink. Gemini in hand, Liza backed away from the table. Liza fades off the screen. Decided to make a friend? The screen shakes. Okay boys and girls! Rae waited until he had everyone’s attention, then darted through the Red door. The remaining Contestants joined him at their own pace. The screen fades out. According to the code, we’re meant to hear a door go, but for whatever reason the sound effect doesn’t play!  Ink scratched his head. Haven’t we already been in this room? But you’re right. It’s almost identical to the first room when you step through the Green Door. I’ll say. But at the same time, it’s a little eerie... Yeah. Let’s do it.  Aether tore the note off the wall and scanned it. It’s the clue for this puzzle. It’s longer than the usual, so I guess Sent opted for a note. Could you read it out loud for us? “This is the body of John Doe.” “Tragically, John was diagnosed with a disease that prevents him from moving unless the left and right halves of his body are perfectly balanced.” “John’s dream is to walk around like a normal human. Rearrange the limbs provided to make that possible.” ...That’s all. I guess I’ll hold onto the note in case anyone wants to re-read it. Weird. Let’s give ’er a go. I got really confused about the mechanics of this puzzle when I first played. You can swap tiles around freely, except for the central six tiles containing John’s head and torso. However, limbs only ‘count’ if they’re attached to John in the correct place for that specific limb; you can’t give John legs for arms, or replace his right leg with a left leg. Because of this, John can have a maximum of one grey arm, one red arm, one blue leg and one green leg, and the final position of limbs that aren't attached to John is unimportant. (I’d usually specify by right/left rather than colours, but I don’t know whether John is facing towards or away from us!)
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 09:42
|
|
|
Allright, so... First thing I noticed is that the numbers on the right of the puzzle are way larger than those on the left. In fact, if we add the highest left arm and leg ( 14.1 + 7.5 ) we get 21.6, which basically makes the right arms 20.0, 37.9, and 44.0 impossible. That means we're stuck with 1.05 and 8.1. 15.9 + 8.1 (the lightest leg with 8.1) makes 24, which is still higher than anything we can make on the left. So we need to look at 1.05. But that .05 is weird... it doesn't correspond to anything else. Unless... we're supposed to use the lever principle for balancing, and assume that the arms are twice as far from the center of mass as the legs, so they count double. That changes the whole calculation. The right arms other than 1.05 and 8.1 are still too heavy to match up with anything on the left so we can keep disregarding them. Lowest on the left is now: (6.4 * 2) + 8.8 = 21.6 The highest we can make on the right with 1.05 is (1.05 * 2) + 19.1 = 21.2. So that won't work and we should try 8.1. Lowest on the right with that is (8.1 * 2) + 15.9 = 32.1 Highest on the left is: (7.5 * 2) + 14.1 = 29.1 So that won't work either... And this is where I got stuck. I wonder if I'm thinking along the right lines at all...
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 11:32
|
|
|
This one's easy. Take all the limb tiles off. Now he's balanced! His legs and arms are just really stubby.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 11:37
|
|
|
You can never use that 1.05 arm because nothing on the left has a .05 to balance it (hell, nothing on the board has any more than 1 decimal place). So the lowest you can make on the right is 24 (8.1 + 15.9). The highest you can make on the left is 21.6 (14.1 + 7.5)... I notice some sneaky wording at the end of OP's post though: "John can have a maximum of one grey arm, one red arm, one blue leg and one green leg." Not he must have one of each... just a maximum of one of each. So if we go blue 10.0 + grey 7.3 on the left and green 17.3 on the right, with no red arm... That balances, but isn't symmetrical.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 11:45
|
|
|
I almost did this the dumb way of making a summation table all of the left and right limbs before I saw that he only wants to "walk like a normal human". So, since the red and green limbs are so absurdly heavy, we only need one of them, and since he wants to walk like a normal person, we should give him the blue 10.0, grey 7.3, and green 17.3. Now he can walk just fine! Sneaky, sneaky.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 14:53
|
|
|
I posted a big long waste of my time by misinterpreting that he had two blue legs and two green legs instead of one. And my solution was wrong because I didn't pay attention to the WALK part.
Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Dec 29, 2021 |
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 15:10
|
|
|
Quackles posted:This one's easy. Take all the limb tiles off. Now he's balanced! His legs and arms are just really stubby. Agreed. It also fits with the theme of it being a riddle, not a puzzle, similar to the poker 'puzzle' in the green antechamber. Edit: Also, a maximum of one limb each was given, but not an exact number - zero limbs should still be valid.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 15:28
|
|
|
Capfalcon posted:I almost did this the dumb way of making a summation table all of the left and right limbs before I saw that he only wants to "walk like a normal human". I think I like this, too. You could perfectly balance his body by just not giving him limbs, but that would prevent him from actually walking.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2021 20:32
|
|
|
Happy new year! 14.2: The Fourteenth Puzzle (Music: Battle of Wits)  As far as I can recall, this is the longest one we’ve gotten yet. Yeah, it’s its own little story, isn’t it? Poor John has it rough. You don’t suppose there’s actually a medical condition like his, do you? Nah. I’m pretty sure that it was just made up for the sake of this puzzle. ...Right. Sorry, that was a dumb question. Hey, there are no dumb questions, especially right now. Exit/Corners has me asking myself some pretty silly questions. I’m trying to not discount any possibility right now. I feel the same way. Anyway, as always, I’m sure there’s more to this puzzle than what meets the eye. There’s probably a hidden meaning in that clue somewhere. There may be several. It’s longer than the norm and there’s probably a reason for that. Do you remember how it goes? I think so... I’ve got the note in case you want me to read it to you again. Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.As you’ve probably guessed, Aether will just read the clue out if you speak to her again. Here it is, in case you’d like a reminder: Hey, would you mind reading off that clue again? Sure. "This is the body of John Doe." "Tragically, John was diagnosed with a disease that prevents him from moving unless the left and right halves of his body are perfectly balanced." "John’s dream is to walk around like a normal human. Rearrange the limbs provided to make that possible." Cool, thanks.Let’s work out how to help poor John.  Not so far, no. I think I might’ve mentioned that I’m rather poor at math problems. That’s alright. I’m pretty sure Rae makes up for our lack of math prowess. That may be true, but I’m not going to stand around waiting for him to solve it for us. I told you that I’d help with the puzzles and that’s exactly what I aim to do. Of course. Let’s both do our best, for everyone’s sake.I’m glad to see Beth’s determination here. Hmm... this is rather difficult, isn’t it? All of the limb weights strike me as bizarre. I don’t think they’re meant to be indicative of any real weighting system. They’re just weighted for the sake of the puzzle. Oh, I know that. It seems that the black pieces are the lightest, followed by the blue pieces, followed by the green pieces. The red pieces seem to be a mixed bag. I feel like the red pieces are the key to solving this puzzle. Yeah, maybe... Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that anything but a red piece will fit in John’s left arm. It could be his right arm. We can’t really tell which way he’s facing. I... don’t think that’s important. Just sayin’.It’s important, because it makes it really hard to talk about this puzzle! The red pieces seem so out of place... I feel like the puzzle would be much easier if they weren’t part of the picture. I’m inclined to agree. I wonder...Hmmm.  I think so. Just don’t forget that most puzzles have tricks to them. Most, but not all. There were a few exceptions. You’re good at math, right? I’m better when I’m not being pestered by other people. Sorry... but you should be able to figure this out, right? Yeah, it shouldn’t take me too long. Check back in a few minutes and I’ll probably have an answer for you.Let’s keep pestering Rae! How are things coming along? Figure out the combination yet? No... something’s strange. These numbers aren’t working. I’ve noticed that the black pieces are all lighter than the blue pieces, which are all lighter than the green pieces, but the red pieces are all over the place. Yeah, that’s what’s bugging me. Some of the red pieces are way too heavy to consider, so we can pretty safely eliminate 20.0, 44.0, and 37.9 as potential candidates. I guess that leaves 8.1 and 1.05. Right... but I haven’t found a combination that works with either of those yet. Have you tried every possible combination? Not quite yet, but I’m getting close. Let me know when you do. You just gonna twiddle your thumbs until then? No, I’m going to try from another angle. I’m not that helpless.Ink, you liar, you didn’t notice those relative weights; Beth told you! Gah, damnit... Something the matter? I’ve gone through every possible combination and I don’t think any of them are going to work. I haven’t seen you touch the screen at all... I’ve been going through them in my head. It’s faster that way. Maybe you messed up a calculation by accident. Maybe. I guess I’ll have another look.You can do this, Rae. Any new revelations? No. I keep going through the different combinations, but nothing’s working. There might be something we’re missing, you know. Maybe... I just keep getting so close. I can’t help but think I screwed up my mental math. Let me just try this for a little bit longer before I change my strategy.Maybe I should look elsewhere for advice... Maybe Rae can’t do this. Liza?  My thoughts? Sent is a poor storyteller. Really? I thought that John’s plight was pretty moving. First he’s born with that weird asymmetric muscle-binding syndrome, then he’s given limbs of all different weights? Oh, what cruel fate! Oh, what tragedy! Oh, shut up. Seriously though, what’s going on in the puzzle? Is he just lying down in a room with a bunch of dismembered arms and legs on the floor? Are they all alive? Is he awake while his arms and legs are being switched out? You know, I think you’re looking into this a tiny bit too much... I’m teasin’, I’m teasin’. Anyway, it should be pretty obvious that there’s some sort of trick here, especially with a clue that long. I can’t think of anything at the moment, though. If you ever want to hear the clue again, Aether’s the one with the note. She’ll show it to you if you ask. I just might do that.I’m sort of fascinated by how horrifying Ink is making this puzzle. Hey, Ink. Yeah? Find out anything interesting? Possibly. The last little bit stands out to me as odd. "John’s dream is to walk around like a normal human". I feel like the wording on that is a little... peculiar. Hmm... now that you mention it, yeah, it’s a little weird. Specifically, what bothers me is the use of the world "walk". You’d think it would say, "All John wants is to be normal". Or maybe, "Give John equally balanced arms and legs." This leads me to believe that the act of walking is somehow important. That’s pretty observant of you, Liza. Nice job. Why thank you.It’s nice to see Liza becoming a more active (and less hostile) participant in the trials we’re facing. So "walking" is important, huh? Well, it might be. We can’t say for sure yet. Let’s say walking is important, though. What could we then do to ensure that John is walking? We could... give him legs? I don’t know. Did I say something? You’re right. You need legs to walk, right? Uh... I’m going to go with "yes" on that one. Very insightful. Don’t make fun of me! I’m onto something here! Okay, okay. I’m listening. You need legs to walk, but you don’t need arms, do you? I mean, they help, but you don’t need them. Not really. Hmm... you’ve got a point. Arms help you keep balance, but given John’s messed up limb weights that’s probably a moot point. So maybe... the answer doesn’t require you to add any arms. Or maybe you only need to add one arm. I’ll remember that.I thought someone might flat-out give me the answer, but I’m increasingly feeling I’m going to have to do some maths on this one. So you’re saying that we should consider not adding any arms or only adding one arm to John’s body? Well, that was my first impression. That might not necessarily be it. Just keep it in mind, okay? Of course.  MarquiseMindfang and Capfalcon got this one. The music stops. (Music: Duress)  It makes sense to me. The clue mentions walking and you don’t need arms to do that. That’s horseshit. You’re a nurse; you should know that your arms help you keep balance. Well, given the clue, John Doe only needed the left and right sides of his body to be equal in weight. The only way that’s possible given the pieces is if we leave out his arm. ...I guess. gently caress, that’s dumb. When the clue said that he wanted to “walk around like a normal human”, I wasn’t exactly expecting John over here to be a slot machine. Hey, you’ve gotta draw the line somewhere. The way I see it, having two arms and two legs is the standard, and anything less is, well... So everyone with a disability is sub-standard, is that it?! Geez, don’t put words in my mouth. But come on, it’s hard enough to find work as it is. John’s gonna be unemployed for a looooong time. Not to mention he’s going to be single forever. A furious Liza turned her back on the group and whipped out her Gemini. But hey, at least he can still masturbate. Not all’s lost, huh? I’m just having a laugh. No need to get all worked up. I want you to go apologize to Liza. Since when do you care so much? She’ll get over it. ... Stop lookin’ at me like that!The music stops.  Rae fades off the screen. We hear a door open and close. Aether kept her voice low as Rae sauntered off.   I’m sorry for how Rae was acting. It’s not you that needs to be sorry. Do you have somebody close to you with a disability, Liza? Something like that. Don’t you guys think you’re being a little invasive right now? Ah. Right. My apologies, Liza. It’s fine. I shouldn’t be acting this way in the first place.(Music: Stranglehold (Rack)) Exit/Corners has me stressed out of my mind, that’s all. Some game this is. Games are supposed to be fun, aren’t they? If it isn’t fun, then I don’t think it can be called a game. I don’t think that’s quite right. Not all games are meant to be fun. Then those aren’t games. How else would you define a game? ...Choice. Choice? The act of choosing is what separates a game from any other activity. It’s tough to put into words. This kind of reminds me of something Rae told me earlier. He said: “it’s not a game if you can’t win”. I don’t know if I agree with any of these definitions, really! Tetris is a game; you can’t win that. Silent Hill 2 is a game, and a good one, but I wouldn’t call it fun. Snakes and Ladders is a game, but there’s no element of choice; your moves are dictated entirely by chance. Agreeing with Aether or Liza will get you a trust point with them; agreeing with Rae will get you a point with Beth. Avoiding the question will lose you a point with everyone present. We’re prioritising Liza’s trust, so... Actually, I agree with Liza. A game needs to be fun. Then Exit/Corners isn’t a game, by your definition. Well, actually... H-Hey! Obviously the whole dying thing isn’t exactly enticing, but there are some parts I sorta enjoy... I suppose that’s fair. Today hasn’t been altogether bad.She’s... agreeing with me?  Makes you wonder, I guess... Mm. Let’s go.The music stops.   What do you want? I forgot something in the other room. ... Maybe. Liza said nothing. Rae coughed up a rueful sigh. Liza closes her eyes after Rae apologises, though, so technically she does stop giving him that look!  Taking the tiniest of steps to the left, Liza let him pass. Rae squeezed by her, then made his way back through the bureau and into the main hall. It’s unlike Rae to double back like that. I wonder...  We’re not friends. He was in the wrong and he knew it. That’s all. ...There’s something I need to ask Rae. You girls go on ahead.Not waiting for a reply, Ink decided to poke his head back into the central hall.  (Music: Punishing Fire) What’re you still doing here?  Did you find what you were looking for? Uh... yeah. Yeah, I did.Ink knew what it was Rae had lost, but hesitated to bring it up. He shifted gears.  Rae’s not going to like it if we ask about the Gemini. Let’s stick with the safer option. Why the change of heart toward Liza?Ink was positive that Rae had been using his Gemini behind everyone’s backs, but this probably wasn’t the right time to bring it up.  You apologized to her. I hadn’t been expecting that. You don’t need to explain yourself if you don’t want to. I just wanted to say that I think you did the right thing by apologizing. I want her to be able to help me if I need it, and she’s not going to do that if she hates me. Oh. There was me thinking maybe you had some respect for her. And she fished all three of you out of that garden back there. I mean, it was just laughing gas in there, but that did take some guts. It goes without saying that you don’t want me to repeat a word of this to her? Oh, and one more thing, Rae... Yeah? My Contact thinks he’s being followed. You might want to tell yours to watch their back. Just wanted you to know. Let’s head back, then. Wouldn’t want the rest of them to think something’s happened to us. ’Kay. Let’s move.The screen fades to black. We see a brief glimpse of the red room again as they pass through it, and then: (Music: Stranglehold)  The monitor’s blank. I guess the puzzle’s in one of these adjoining rooms, just like before. Let’s try this door, I guess... The screen fades out, and we hear a door close.  The screen shakes. Whoa! Sorry! That’s quite alright, dear. I’m afraid I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, either. Ink only then noticed that Rae wasn’t with him. Why hadn’t he followed behind? The music stops. The puzzle’s at the back. We’re trying to figure out how—The screen shakes.  Ink flinched as Rae’s voice boomed through the hotel walls. He ran back into the hallway to see what was wrong.   Leraika asked whether there were any plans to do a repoll for the characters, as it might be interesting to see whether opinions had changed. We’re about halfway through the game – there are twenty-nine chapters in total – so it seems like a good point for it! Originally, I asked for favourite characters and decided who we wanted to build trust with based on the responses. By this point, now that the mechanics of the trust system have become clearer, I think it makes sense to separate out the questions, so tell me: 1. Of Aether, Beth, Liza and Rae, who would you like to build trust with? (You can optionally give a second choice as well.) If your opinion hasn't changed, feel free to vote in the same way you did last time! 2. Optionally, who is your favourite character in Exit/Corners? (This can be the same character, of course!) Rith fucked around with this message at 12:00 on Jan 1, 2022 |
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2022 11:58
|
|
|
Still sticking with Aether at #1 and Liza at #2.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2022 14:08
|
|
|
I'm going to put Liza at #1 and Rae at #2 for building trust. My favorite character so far is dervival fucked around with this message at 16:39 on Jan 1, 2022 |
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2022 15:38
|
|
|
dervival posted:My favorite character so far is Seth To clarify, do you mean Sent or Sean? Context suggests Sean, but I thought I might as well check. More than one person has been talking about a Seth when there's no Seth in the game, and I'm getting increasingly confused!
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2022 15:58
|
|
|
Rae 1st, Liza 2nd because metagaming. Aether is going to be hard to lose trust with, and I get the feeling we just passed Beth's trust gate, if such a thing exists. I like Sent, honestly.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2022 16:26
|
|
|
Rith posted:To clarify, do you mean Sent or Sean? Context suggests Sean, but I thought I might as well check. More than one person has been talking about a Seth when there's no Seth in the game, and I'm getting increasingly confused! I meant Sean, derp! Thank you for catching that.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2022 16:38
|
|
|
Can I vote for keeping them as even as possible? As for favorite characters, I really like everyone, but Ink's my favorite.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2022 17:51
|
|
|
Leraika posted:Can I vote for keeping them as even as possible? 
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2022 18:23
|
|
|
Rae at #1 and Liza at #2. I thin Beth is my favourite character.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2022 18:49
|
|
|
Leraika posted:Can I vote for keeping them as even as possible? To be honest, 'keeping them as even as possible' would probably just lead to choosing options that reduce Aether's trust at every opportunity! Because the game doesn't display changes in trust until the end of the following chapter, a system where I always choose to boost the person with the lowest trust would probably be tricky. I'll try to do that if any characters draw, though. In light of this, if you or Blueberry Pancakes would like to vote for specific characters, feel free! (Everyone could probably contrive to make all the characters draw if you'd like to make life harder for me, but I'd prefer it if you didn't.)
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2022 19:52
|
|
|
Liza #1, Rae #2 Favorite character is still Liza. I can talk about this puzzle now! Part of the reason it's so clumsily presented is because as it was originally written, "just remove all of the limbs" was a solution, and the 'walk like a normal person' line was added to remove that as an option.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2022 22:09
|
|
|
girl dick energy posted:My favorite character is also Ink. girl dick energy posted:Favorite character is still Liza. Music: Thoughtlace (I didn't know about the problem with the original wording of the puzzle! Thank you for sharing; that's a cool bit of trivia.)
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2022 22:16
|
|
|
Rith posted:Music: Thoughtlace
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2022 22:17
|
|
|
Rae at 1, Liza at 2.
|
|
#
?
Jan 1, 2022 23:10
|
|
|
Rith posted:To be honest, 'keeping them as even as possible' would probably just lead to choosing options that reduce Aether's trust at every opportunity! In light of that, Liza 1, Aether 2
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2022 02:17
|
|
|
Liza #1, Beth #2 Liza remains my favorite character. It's been nice to see her open up some more.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2022 05:50
|
|
|
Thank you for your votes! The new rankings will come into effect a few chapters from now. (Spoiler: they’re very like the old rankings.) 15.1: RN   The clock is ticking. Good news: we made it out of the first Corner alive! The “green” section of the game is, as far as I can tell, compete! We found the first key card and have officially made our way through the Red Door. Go us! Though I guess it’s not all good news. Sean, my Contact, tells me he’s being followed. There’s no way this isn’t related to Exit/Corners. I can’t help him while I’m trapped in here, so all I can do is hope that he stays safe. After clearing our heads a bit, we went and solved the first puzzle in the red section. It was a number-based puzzle that centered around a man with a strange condition. Rae made some off-colour jokes about having one arm, which made Liza pretty upset. He later apologized, thank goodness. I don’t think those two hate each other as much as they’d like us to believe. Rae was acting a little suspicious, so I followed him back into the main hall. There, I caught him using his Gemini, which he had previously told me he hadn’t touched. But right as we were heading back to rejoin the others – WHAM! He slams his Gemini right into a wall. So here I am, wondering what the hell just happened. Rae was angry. (Music: Punishing Fire) His Gemini – or what was left of it – lay scattered across the floor in a dozen tiny pieces. Ink stood speechless in front of the debris. The screen shakes.  What happened, Rae?! gently caress Exit/Corners! gently caress Sent! gently caress our Contacts! Is... is everything alright?Ink realized the stupidity of his question as the words left his lips.    Yeah, I would mind. Go away.Beth, unflinching, took another step forward.  And I never will. Tough luck. An old employer, perhaps? A mentor of yours, maybe? Listen, we’ve all got poo poo we’d rather not talk about. I don’t care how curious you are. Rae, none of us care what skeletons you might have in your closet. The identity of your Contact could prove essential to figuring out who’s behind this. I’ve already explained to you why I kept that a secret. And besides, that’s not entirely true. I did tell Ink that my son was dead.The screen shakes.  Hey! Don’t drag me into this! You didn’t feel like sharing that with anyone else? Not really, no. It was her business, and I thought that Sent was just messing with her. Still do, to be honest. So that must mean you trust Ink, Beth? I do.Beth’s response here is a mark of our trust with her. If our trust were lower, her response would be ‘I suppose I did at the time.’ Good. Then I’ll tell Ink and only Ink about my Contact.Rae suggests this regardless of Beth’s response; if she gives the low-trust response, he just says ‘Close enough’ rather than ‘Good’. Wait, what? That’s not completely unreasonable. Is that okay with everyone else? I guess I’m not going to have any say in this...  I can barely hear you, Aether. Yeah, speak up. You know what, exactly? Hmph. Well, whatever.The music stops. Alright, Ink – let’s go back to the main hall. It’s quiet in there. You will tell me if something is amiss, won’t you, Ink? Yeah. Of course. Let’s make this quick, Ink. We hear a door slam.  Ink obeyed. First things first: you’re not going to go repeating any of this to anyone else. You’re just going to tell Beth I’m legit and then you’re gonna drop it. Got that? I won’t tell a soul, promise. Before we start, though... ‘I thought it was pointless to get mad at an inanimate object’ won’t do any good and is, moreover, a fantastically obnoxious thing to say. Why me? I know you won’t tell the others. How do you figure that? ...Oh. Yeah, I guess that would do it.Whoops. This is the low-Rae-trust version of this exchange. I was hoping for the one you get with high trust: quote:Ink: Why me? (Music: Aetherling) Just shut up and listen, ok? Oh yeah. Who is she?Huh! Something’s gone wrong somewhere along the line here. Ink learns that Rae’s Contact is female if he asks about Rae’s Gemini in episode fourteen, which we did not do. According to the code, it’s supposed to be possible for Ink to assume Rae’s Contact is male here – ‘Who is he?’ – which presumably is the version we were supposed to get. Somehow, though, we’re getting the question Ink asks if he already knows that Rae’s contact is a woman. Her name is Tiana. She’s, uh... She was my girlfriend, once. Ah. How long were you dating before then? Six years. Yikes. Sorry. It’s fine. We met when I was in high school. At a hackathon, if you can believe that. Oh, so she was a programmer, too? Yeah. She was good, too. Is good. Not as good as me, of course, but she’s a sharp one. Both of us decided to go to Bellbridge University together after high school so we could stay together. What happened? Ink, what do you know about Bellbridge’s sponsorship policies? Have you ever thought of writing a book and getting it published through the school? I’ve looked into it, briefly... you present your work or finding to a council and they get to invest in you. Something like that? Oh, and if what you’re working on shows enough promise, they’ll also foot the bill for the rest of your education. poo poo ain’t cheap. That sounds almost too good to be true. Yeah, well, the catch is that the members of the council get first dibs when it comes to sponsoring you further. For example, if you were going to continue a line of research, the members of the BBUSC were allowed to gain a little equity in you before you could look for alternative funding methods. So you presented something to the council? RN. Huh? That’s the name of what I was showing to the council — RN. RN? What’s that, some sort of programming thing? It’s an algorithm. The Rae Nandon algorithm. You named it after yourself? Tiana eventually convinced me to change it. She said naming it after myself was narcissistic. Maybe she was right about that. I dunno. I wanted it to keep the initials RN, though, so I ended up calling it the “Refractive Node” algorithm, which is a fair approximation of what it does. So it had something to do with light? Then, it would change its search type dynamically at every step of the search in order to point itself in the proper direction. The index would “bend” to be able to hit a very specific target in a near-infinite sea of nodes and branches. It’s fast. Bonkers fast, which is why I gave the algorithm a light-themed name. I’m sorry, I didn’t understand a word of that.  I’d been writing an article outlining the strengths, weaknesses, and potential uses of the algorithm, which I was gonna present alongside the algorithm itself. What happened?The music stops. Tiana and I were living together in a small condo for my short stint at BBU. I had completed the algorithm, but right as I was getting close to finishing the article... Tiana stole all of my source code for RN and presented it to the council as if it were her own work. It’s not clear from the wording of the options, but ‘She just did that out of the blue?’ is not a ‘wow, that’s a really shocking thing to do’ sympathetic question; Ink responds sceptically if you choose it. Rae’s opening up to us; it’s not the time for scepticism. What a bitch! Yeah... it really took me by surprise. Still, didn’t you have any way to prove it was your work? Didn’t you protect your code at all?  It was all a mistake. I didn’t know she had stolen RN, so when I went to the BBUSC a few days later to present it, they laughed at me and claimed I’d plagiarized her. I’d talked about RN so much with her that she knew it front to back, so I couldn’t call her out on it. I was angry. We fought. I can imagine. I dropped out, moved out, and haven’t spoken to her since. Until today. Yeah. Until today. I shouldn’t have messaged her at all. It only made me upset. We’ll lose trust with Rae if we ask for the details. Do you feel any better now? ...Yeah. Sorta. You know, it almost feels like you were looking for an excuse to share this with someone. Hey, I call it like I see it. I won’t. Not unless there’s good reason to. I’ll let Beth know that there’s nothing to worry about. I mean, it’s not like you can even talk to Tiana again at this point, anyway. Thank fuckin’ God. Uh... that’s the spirit! Beth was eyeing Liza, who was staring exhaustedly at her Gemini. Aether was on the other side of the room, pacing back and forth in front of the monitor. We’re back. Very good. And Rae? Ink, should I be concerned about his Contact? No. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. Is it an old professor of his? Or maybe—The screen shakes. Beth! Knock it off! Listen, I don’t know why you’re so curious about his Contact, but I can assure you that all of your guesses so far haven’t even been sort of close. So... whoever you think Rae’s Contact is, you’re probably wrong.  And I thought I was the paranoid one... What’s the status of the puzzle? drat. You’ve all had a look around, I take it? We’re still missing something, I’m sure...  Click. ...What was that noise just now?  Well, I guess that’s one less thing to worry about.The screen shakes.  The screen shakes. (Music: Last Stand)  The screen shakes.  The screen shakes.  The screen shakes.  I betcha anything that the door we used to come in is locked. Aether was shivering. She didn’t seem capable of looking Ink in the eye. Aether? I’ll be fine. Let’s focus on the puzzle. Right! You can add the axe, bow, spear, sword and wand to the five slots of the answer field in whichever order you’d like. When you add a weapon, its name appears behind it, like so:  I’ll be straight with you: this is another puzzle where you’re not expected to be the one to solve it – you’re expected to get help from Rae – so I wouldn’t recommend spending too long trying to crack it unless you and Rae are interested in the same fields.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2022 10:39
|
|
|
I get the odd feeling that this one wants you to sort them alphabetically.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2022 12:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 8, 2024 18:59 |
|
|
Blueberry Pancakes posted:I get the odd feeling that this one wants you to sort them alphabetically. STR. for "string" instead of strength? Is that actually an abbreviation IT peeps use for string?
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2022 14:02
|
|
