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Aether, like Akane before her, clearly has anxiety about getting wet on elevators.
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Oct 27, 2021 09:30
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Bifauxnen posted:Aether, like Akane before her, clearly has anxiety about getting wet on elevators. I'm like 80% sure Akane was just screwing with Junpei, though, given how things shook out.
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Oct 27, 2021 09:55
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oh im an idiot and bookmarked this but forgot to ever post  i'm yet another 'oh hey, ive played this' reader so I probably won't be commenting much since it's more fun to watch people with fresh eyes react to stuff, but im glad you started LPing it because that's one less thing on my list of options after I finish the one I'm doing now  always happy to see more ontological mystery LPs!!(also of the four I remember Liza being my favorite, so I'm definitely in the minority)
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Oct 27, 2021 10:16
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Mix. posted:(also of the four I remember Liza being my favorite, so I'm definitely in the minority) Liza's actually at the top of the rankings after I surveyed the thread! Liza, then Rae, then Beth and Aether tied. It's not what I was expecting; I actually thought Beth would be in first place, but perhaps my own fondness for Beth was obscuring my vision. I chose her lift on my first playthrough without hesitation. She's great. Glad to have you along! It's good to know I'm not the only person who's been contemplating Let's Playing this.
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Oct 27, 2021 10:51
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Rith posted:Glad to have you along! It's good to know I'm not the only person who's been contemplating Let's Playing this. it was only one of several i had in mind, so if anything you've made my decision process much easier but yeah, this genre of VN isn't particularly huge but I feel like most of the ones that aren't infinity/zero escape kind of tend to not get much traffic, so it's always nice to get more eyes on these indie entries (even the free ones like E/C)
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Oct 27, 2021 10:56
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The answer as Quackles has beat us to is presumably to remember this is an elevator and make an up arrow as though you're trying to go up instead of down into the water. But given that this is the first actual danger puzzle, I'm wondering if there's a way to fail so badly that we actually die here. Beth thus far has been pretty good with the puzzles, so I'm assuming at some point she steps in and solves it for our dumb rear end. But that's us the protagonist. Based on Liza's faint scream, it's likely that she (and others) all have similar puzzles and I'm going to guess that at least one of our compatriots fails to figure it out and drowns. Total guess here would be Liza - we've seen two of these shape puzzles like this already which Rae has successfully told us the answer to and Aether seemed to be very much on the right track, while it seems like Liza didn't even pay attention to the drat things.
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Oct 27, 2021 12:02
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Rae would be terrible at Zero Escape. Time travel is always the most sensible option. Speaking of Zero Escape, this looks kind of like it could be a screenshot from 999. Mix. posted:i'm yet another 'oh hey, ive played this' reader so I probably won't be commenting much since it's more fun to watch people with fresh eyes react to stuff, but im glad you started LPing it because that's one less thing on my list of options after I finish the one I'm doing now While I have also played this game before, its been so long that I don't remember any of the puzzle solutions. I'm half-wondering if I should refrain from guessing in these as much just to be safe, though. Quackles posted:I'm like 80% sure Akane was just screwing with Junpei, though, given how things shook out. Yeah, with the True Ending in mind, it seems like Akane was just making a dirty joke to herself in the past. Blueberry Pancakes fucked around with this message at 12:09 on Oct 27, 2021 |
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Oct 27, 2021 12:03
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For the "traveled through time" segment, might I suggest quote-blocking it instead for readability? Makes it a little easier instead of having the entire thing underlined. Also, I guess this got me to play this, though I shamefully needed thread to solve 3 for me.
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Oct 28, 2021 03:58
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Cyouni posted:For the "traveled through time" segment, might I suggest quote-blocking it instead for readability? Makes it a little easier instead of having the entire thing underlined. This is a great suggestion; thank you! I've quote-blocked that segment, and I'll use quote tags for sharing any alternate dialogue of more than a couple of lines in the future. I'm glad to hear this got you to play the game, too!
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Oct 28, 2021 06:58
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Rith posted:Let’s see if we can manage to avoid drowning.
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Oct 28, 2021 09:29
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Mix. posted:always happy to see more ontological mystery LPs!! I wonder if it's possible to have an "ontological mystery"* with all the cards 'face up on the table'? *I'm using this to mean 'death game' tbh Like, in Danganronpa, we aren't sure about the nature of Hope's Peak Academy until the end. Even moreso for the sequels. In VLR, 'where are we' is a major plot twist. In ZTD, we have the bonus helping of 'when are we', thanks to the whole fragments system messing up the timeline for all parties. In this game, it's not clear where everyone is. Let's not even bring up Head AS Code and Birth ME Code, which are impressively wack about the nature of the setting. So: What about a game of this type where the nature of the setting was made clear towards the start, and everything that is initially made clear is true? (I have some ideas...)
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Oct 28, 2021 09:36
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I don't have anything intelligent to say about your main point, Quackles, but the fact that you didn't mention Your Turn to Die makes me wonder whether you're not aware of it, so I thought I'd let you know: if you're a fan of the death game genre, you may also enjoy Your Turn to Die! HydroSphere is doing a Let's Play over here. Of course, it's entirely possible you already know Your Turn to Die and just didn't mention it because it's not finished yet, in which case this should be considered a general recommendation for passers-by looking for similar games. In that vein, I can also highly recommend Ghost Trick, which isn't a death game in the same way but does have a similar 'digging into a mystery while the plot twists get wilder and wilder' feel. Umineko: When They Cry is a murder-and-mystery recommendation with caveats - it has pacing issues and makes the slightly offputting decision to introduce the protagonist by going 'this is Battler and, boy, does he love tits' - but I ended up really loving it after it clicked for me.
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Oct 28, 2021 10:01
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Technically, games like Bioshock and Portal count as ontological mysteries since you're thrust into an environment you have no memory or information about and the crux of the plot is you figuring that out Same for movies like the Cube series, Exam, and even the first Saw movie, which probably is pretty close to what you're asking. All that's important is that the characters are in a contained environment with little to no knowledge, capacity, or memory of how to escape (or why they're there); it's why even though the infinity series and zero escape tend to get lumped together, technically only ZE actually counts, since in stuff like ever17 it's pretty straightforward what happened to put them in their situation
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Oct 28, 2021 10:55
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Rith posted:In that vein, I can also highly recommend Ghost Trick,  I kid, it's a great game and I second the suggestion. I'm genuinely surprised Liza is winning. Maybe everyone caught on that she must have Reasons for being like this and is worth learning about. Or maybe people are just hoping she'll be less of a poo poo if she doesn't feel like everyone is against her.
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Oct 28, 2021 10:57
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Foxfire_ posted:You can almost make a little sailboat! (one tile is wrong) Oh, shoot, that was what I figured the answer was. Quackles posted:In VLR, 'where are we' is a major plot twist. Don't forget 999 making everyone think they were on a ship that was supposedly already sunken.
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Oct 28, 2021 15:46
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Mix. posted:Technically, games like Bioshock and Portal count as ontological mysteries since you're thrust into an environment you have no memory or information about and the crux of the plot is you figuring that out Ever17 is only straightforward for Takeshi. Kid's routes turn out to be in the future.
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Oct 28, 2021 16:07
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Rith posted:I don't have anything intelligent to say about your main point, Quackles, but the fact that you didn't mention Your Turn to Die makes me wonder whether you're not aware of it, so I thought I'd let you know: if you're a fan of the death game genre, you may also enjoy Your Turn to Die! HydroSphere is doing a Let's Play over here. [1] Never heard of Your Turn To Die. Thank you! [2] I love the poo poo out of Ghost Trick, have played it to completion 2-3 times, and may LP it some day. [3] I have read exactly half of Umineko and oh boy I have theories. I should finish the other half at some point.
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Oct 28, 2021 16:54
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Quackles posted:I wonder if it's possible to have an "ontological mystery"* with all the cards 'face up on the table'? It's possible, but a lot of the "death games" seem to have their starting point of "this is the 'awesome' twist I want to have", and then work backwards torturing logic as much as is needed to try and get the twist to seem to make sense while still being a surprise. VLR is probably the worst example I've seen for "designing the premise to fit a twist you had in mind." Anyway, getting back to this game, being able to apparently contact people in the outside is quite unusual, as normally, everyone is stuck in a closed box because the usual twist is a variation on "the rest of the world was destroyed while you were sleeping", because that's a convenient way to explain how the perp accumulated the time and funding to build the death game. I assume that they are the real people because being able to contact someone you know would be easy to check by asking the person a question only they and the participant would know the answer to. But that raises another question: why does Sent want them to have contact with someone else? They aren't any help on the tests, so what's the reasoning for allowing the contact?
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Oct 28, 2021 17:17
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:VLR is probably the worst example I've seen for "designing the premise to fit a twist you had in mind."
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Oct 28, 2021 17:47
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girl dick energy posted:You say that, when everything about ZTD exists? Oh, I believe you, but I haven't seen ZTD, partly because I was unimpressed by VLR's multiple tortured twists.
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Oct 28, 2021 18:08
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Someone did a Let's Play of ZTD last year, I believe. It's worth looking at just to see how aggressively ridiculous it is and how pretty much every returning character was mishandled.
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Oct 28, 2021 18:11
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Zero Time Dilemma is the stupidest game in the series and therefore the best. I loved every moment of it and was genuinely delighted by the ridiculous reveal. If I wanted sensible plots, I wouldn't be a fan of this genre. Also, Carlos is great and I retroactively miss him in the earlier games.
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Oct 28, 2021 18:20
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I'm with Rith on this, I understand why people don't like ZTD but I, for one, loved it the whole way through
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Oct 28, 2021 18:24
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Oh, I adore it, and I think some of the mechanical/meta puzzles like the dice brute-forcing, and some of the 'other people remembering other timelines' moments are genuinely clever, but the game is absolutely batshit.
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Oct 28, 2021 19:43
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girl dick energy posted:Oh, I adore it, and I think some of the mechanical/meta puzzles like the dice brute-forcing, and some of the 'other people remembering other timelines' moments are genuinely clever, but the game is absolutely batshit. I have no complaints about anything in ZTD except (BIG spoiler) "he was behind the camera the whole time".
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Oct 28, 2021 19:55
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Rith posted:Umineko: When They Cry is a murder-and-mystery recommendation with caveats - it has pacing issues and makes the slightly offputting decision to introduce the protagonist by going 'this is Battler and, boy, does he love tits' - but I ended up really loving it after it clicked for me. I feel like the burden of horniness gradually passes from Battler to the author of the series himself... which is really appropriate to the story, now that I think of it.
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Oct 28, 2021 20:06
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Quackles posted:I have no complaints about anything in ZTD except (BIG spoiler) "he was behind the camera the whole time". That was exceptionally dumb, but I think the thing that wound up taking me out of the story was "Check out my alien-made time machine/cloner."
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Oct 28, 2021 20:15
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Quackles posted:I have no complaints about anything in ZTD except (BIG spoiler) "he was behind the camera the whole time".
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Oct 28, 2021 20:30
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girl dick energy posted:Are you kidding, that's the best part of that stupid game. What sucks is how weird and pointless and nebulous his evil plan was. I mean, that part was obvious. "Look, dad and godmom [Akane]. I can run a death game, too!"
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Oct 28, 2021 21:01
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Quackles posted:I wonder if it's possible to have an "ontological mystery"* with all the cards 'face up on the table'? Ontological mysteries and death games are separate genres, though, even if they frequently overlap. Definitionally, you can't have an ontological mystery with all the cards face-up on the table, because then there's no mystery. However, I think there are a fair number of works about death games that are more about "will the protagonist(s) survive"/"who will die next and how"/"what inventively sadistic games will the mastermind(s) make the participants play next" than "what's going on here and why" - stuff like Battle Royale, Kaiji, or Squid Game. That flavor seems less common in video games, though.
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Oct 29, 2021 17:05
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Four lifts, four elements, but five contestants? Is someone not meant to be here? Beth is the obvious odd one out.
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Oct 29, 2021 20:53
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4.2: The Fourth Puzzle (Music: Last Stand) No ‘Battle of Wits’ this time. As we’re solving a puzzle in a tense situation, the tenser ‘Last Stand’ carries over into the puzzle. ‘Don’t drown’ is good advice, but, as instructions go, it’s fairly vague. We might need Beth’s help with this one.   I’m not entirely sure. Let’s stay calm and think about it. There’s nothing to think about! Sent’s just trying to be funny! Yes, but that might be a hint in its own right. Huh? What do you mean...? If the hint Sent left isn’t useful, then it’s very well possible that we won’t even need a hint to solve this one.I think it’s fairly well established by this point that I always need hints to solve things, Beth. Let’s see... When we entered this elevator, the screen displayed an arrow pointing down, did it not? Yeah, it did. I was thinking that maybe if we flipped the arrow upside-down so that it was pointing up, the elevator might start to rise instead. It’s a bit of an odd guess, but I don’t know what else the solution could be. It isn’t an odd guess at all. That’s exactly what I was thinking. Well... the problem with that is that it doesn’t look like I can simply flip the shape around. If there was a “rotate” button, maybe... There must be some other way to make the arrow point up... I know we’re nearing the answer!drat it! The water is already up to my knees! If only this game had repeatedly established a way to form shapes into other shapes without necessarily using the same pieces! Ink! I’ve figured it out! Really? What’s the answer? If we try to make the arrow out of the light pieces, it’ll never work. We need to use the same principle we used in the first puzzle: negative space. Use the dark pieces instead of the light pieces to form the arrow. Looking at the pieces, it ought to work without having to rotate anything. Oh! That’s right... Nice going, Beth.Ink stands there, staring at the screen, while the water rises and Beth wonders why they always let him do the puzzles. So... we need to use the lighter pieces to make the outline of an upward-facing arrow? Yes. Just move the pieces around a bit; you’ll see how they need to be arranged. O-Okay...The water is already up to my waist... how can she stay so calm?  Should’ve gone with this suggestion from Quackles and MagusofStars from the start. Let’s get out of here.  When the ‘Puzzle Solved’ screen appears, by the way, it’s just Ink holding out his hand at first, then there’s a beep and Ink’s hand starts glowing. I sometimes catch it before the beep and sometimes after, so, if you’re wondering why Ink’s hand isn’t always glowing in this image, there’s your answer!  It is. The music stops. Waiting... Waiting... There’s a loud ding and the clatter of sliding doors.  Whatever water remained in the elevator spilled into the room. Ink let it carry him out onto the cold, hard floor. Ha... ha ha... hahahaha! Hey, I’m allowed to laugh — I almost had a heart attack back there! All of the elevators returned at once, it seems. Sure, I can do that. I’m a little worried about Aether. I mean, look at her. She’s practically shivering. That leaves one Contestant...  Hey, uhh... are you alright? Did it happen to you, too? Just look around, Liza. Everyone’s soaked from the thighs down. What do you think?   Did you solve the puzzle? Did it even show up for you? I saw it, but didn’t solve it. Did you? Yeah, we managed to solve it. I guess Sent arranged it so that if one of us solved the puzzle, it would raise all four elevators. Thank God he had the decency to set it up that way... I guess hoping for a “thank you” was a bit optimistic of me... (Music: Stranglehold (Rack), 0.5 speed) Anyway, Ink, it seems your friend was right after all. Oh? So what’s your dad going to do now? He says he’s going to have his men check out downtown Bellbridge, where the hotel used to stand. I’m not sure how much good that’ll do. Alright, if you say so...Click.  What was that?  I think that’s the only way forward. Yeah, looks like it.Ink scratched his head. Something was off. Is anyone else getting the impression that this game seems a bit too... linear? Go through a door, solve a puzzle, unlock the next door, repeat. When Sent said that we needed to “discover the Exit”, I thought there would be some kind of large, maze-like compound to explore. There are traps and stuff, for sure, but the game’s actual structure is a lot simpler than I had expected. Huh? What do you mean by that? Everything in this hotel is automated. The mechanisms that unlock the doors, the puzzles, Sent’s messages, and even the traps. They all seem to run themselves using sensors and switches; no external input required. From a design standpoint, having the game be linear makes it a helluva lot easier to plan out. The music stops. But if Sent doesn’t need to operate the game in any way, then what is he doing right now? Do you think he’s watching us somehow? (Music: Near-Death Experience, 0.75 speed)  What?! How could you say that?! I’ve been considering the possibility for some time now. Rae’s analysis of the traps really put it into perspective, though — one of us IS Sent. Hey now, let’s not jump to conclusions, here... Ink, listen. Exit/Corners is a game, or so we’ve been told. Games are for people’s amusement. Whose amusement? Not mine, that’s for sure. This game was made to please Sent. He must get a kick out of watching people squirm. Now, what do you suppose would be the easiest way to observe and keep track of us? Precisely. He’s got a front-row seat to his own twisted game. Well, he probably knows the locations of the traps and the solutions to the puzzles. And I suppose his plan is to avoid getting caught. But...Ink racked his brain trying to find something that could prove Liza wrong. His search was fruitless. As much as he didn’t want to believe it, Liza’s theory was plausible. Don’t tell me that it never once crossed your mind, Ink. W-Well, I...Ink stammered, unable to come up with a suitable reply. Just who are you, Sent? What are you after?    As I started to suspect at the end of chapter 3, it seems like the standings page after we finish a chapter shows our standings at the beginning of that chapter, oddly enough, so this is a little out-of-date; Beth and Rae should like us slightly more than we see here. Still, they won’t generally be dramatically off and they’re a nice way to close a chapter, so enjoy your slightly inaccurate trust rankings! Rith fucked around with this message at 23:26 on Jan 4, 2022 |
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Oct 30, 2021 08:51
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I guess this is a good place to say that the "one chapter is one puzzle and one cliffhanger" can be pretty clunky at first, but the game gets better about doing interesting things with the format by the middle.
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Oct 30, 2021 09:22
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5.1: One Step at a Time This is the first chapter I’m embarking on after asking the thread for character preferences! According to my highly scientific points system, the current character ranking is Liza in first place, Rae in second, and then Beth and Aether tied in third. I’ll therefore prioritise characters in that order when making decisions that influence trust. If we end up needing to decide between characters with the same number of points, I’ll use my own judgement.  The clock is ticking.  With just one simple phrase, Liza had everyone on edge. Ink racked his brains trying to disprove her theory, but kept coming up empty. Was Sent really one of the five Contestants?  Ink stood limply at the base of the stairs as he waited for someone – anyone – to break the silence. Plink. The screen vibrates. While none of the other Contestants were eager to speak to him, it appeared that Sean had something to say. Ink whipped out his Gemini and sat on the floor, back against the wall. (Music: Biorhythm)   I really like this, actually. Smart of Ink to think, ‘Wait, the fact that Sean’s name is on this PDA doesn’t guarantee that I’m contacting Sean.’ This is why I feel a bit bad about constantly hammering on the hint buttons; Ink’s no fool!   Ink did his best to provide a quick but thorough summary of the day’s events. It took some effort, but after enough explanation, Sean appeared to have a good understanding of Ink’s situation.    The music stops.   Rae looks like he’s thinking real hard about something. He’ll probably just yell at me if I try to talk to him, though. I guess I’ll bug Beth instead... Hey, Beth. Are Aether and Liza already upstairs? That’s right. Why don’t you head on up, too? I’ll join you when I’ve finished messaging my son. H-Hey, um... What’s up, Aether? There’s a puzzle at the top of the stairs. It’d be nice if we had a bit more help. Don’t get the wrong idea. I was busy messaging Sean, that’s all. Liza’s being difficult. I don’t think she wants to be left alone with me. She doesn’t trust you. I didn’t want to get into an argument with her so I came back here. Don’t let her get to you. I don’t think she trusts any of us. That’s true, I guess... So, what were you thinking of doing now? I don’t like abandoning Beth in the stairwell, and staying to hang out with her would get us a trust point with her. But going to help with the puzzle gets us a trust point with Liza, and Liza currently outranks Beth in the thread votes. Sorry, Beth! I’ll get started on the puzzle. Would you mind giving Beth a hand with her Gemini? She needs to send her son a few messages. I don’t need your help. Why don’t you go upstairs as well? Then I’ll just keep you company until you’re done. Fine. Please sit over there, where I can see you.  Oh, it’s you. So, um... does the puzzle seem difficult? I haven’t started it.I guess that doesn’t surprise me... (Music: Duress)  Say, Ink. I’ve got a proposal for you. What kind of proposal? Are you saying you want to leave them behind? Of course. Don’t you? One of them could be Sent, you know. Why do you trust me, then? I could be Sent, too. I don’t trust you. I just trust everyone else less.The above two lines are slightly different if you defended Liza when everyone was accusing her back in chapter two: quote:Ink: So, wait, does that mean you trust me? Is that because I stood up for you back in the lounge? Back to the playthrough:  There’s no question that I’m the best at solving puzzles? Have you seen how many hints I’ve been using?  Why the hell would I agree to that?! You’ll be paid handsomely, of course. Well, provided you aren’t Sent yourself, that is. I’m not going to abandon the others just because you think one of them is Sent! And did I mention that I’d be paying you to get me out of here? Because I feel like you didn’t hear that part. Play your cards right and you won’t need a job till you’re thirty. S... Seriously? I’ll have you know that I’ve got a bright future ahead of me. Nothing is worth more than my survival. Nothing.Either she’s trying to trick me, or she really does trust me. That’s a lot of money she’s allegedly offering...  I, uh... The music stops. If you said in chapter three that Liza’s personal escorts ‘kind of suck if they let you get kidnapped’, the preceding lines of dialogue are different. Starting after Liza says, ‘You’ll be paid handsomely of course. Well, provided you aren’t Sent yourself, that is’: quote:Ink: I’m not interested in money. Well, okay, maybe a little interested. But I’m more interested in answers. Then, as in the other path, Aether interrupts. I’m not planning to share every bit of alternate dialogue throughout this game, but I’ll occasionally throw in bits that catch my eye, just for extra detail and to give an idea of what the game is doing with our choices behind the scenes. Back to the playthrough:  We, uh... we haven’t started it, actually. Oh... I see. Don’t you think we should give it a go? Sorry, we got caught up in small talk. I’ll get to the puzzle right away.Okay, gotta clear my head a little... Let’s solve this thing. Previous tile puzzle rules apply: any tile can be switched with any other tile, all tiles are square, tiles can’t be rotated. Rith fucked around with this message at 12:03 on May 2, 2022 |
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Nov 2, 2021 09:09
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Hope y’all like tile puzzle riddles! This chapter isn’t great, but it’s the start of the groundwork for several of my favorite moments.
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Nov 2, 2021 12:03
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My first thought with the answer being ten is to somehow make an X for the Roman numeral, but with that wider layout it's probably gonna come out kinda weird looking. Can't see how that would actually work off the top of my head.
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Nov 2, 2021 12:41
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Bifauxnen posted:My first thought with the answer being ten is to somehow make an X for the Roman numeral, but with that wider layout it's probably gonna come out kinda weird looking. Can't see how that would actually work off the top of my head. This was my assumption, too!
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Nov 2, 2021 13:06
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You might be able to make a one and a zero with the pieces here.
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Nov 3, 2021 01:08
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5.2: The Fifth Puzzle (Music: Battle of Wits) ‘The answer is ten’ seems straightforward enough. Let’s see if we can get through this without hints this time!  Oh, come on, that’s basically a ten! I usually ask for hints in button order – Aether, Beth, Rae, Liza – but on this occasion I’m going straight for Rae, because I’m curious. Is Rae actually present in the scene?  Just what is he doing down there? I guess not!  What do you think it means? Well, you can’t really get any more to-the-point than with that clue... But if the other puzzles are anything to go by, there’s something we aren’t being told. Yeah. Ten, huh? I wonder...Huh. Rae’s hint button is still clickable. Rae is still at the bottom of the stairs doing who-knows-what. Still seems like he’s not going to help us, though.  What is it, Beth? Do you think these pieces are white over black, or black over white? Why would that matter? Don’t you remember the previous puzzles? The first one, for instance, had us forming a cross out of the dark space of the image. Oh, that’s right. Sent sure loves his negative space. Let’s try moving the pieces around and see what we can come up with.Good point! Let’s try making a 10 out of the negative space. (Spoiler: we cannot form a 10 out of the negative space.) How’s Rae doing? Still no sign of Rae. He sure is taking his sweet time down there. Can’t believe the game’s only letting me ask the characters who are actually here.  I was just coming to see if you had come up with anything regarding the puzzle. Oh, right. I guess I forgot to mention that I’ve already solved it. Really?! Of course not! Don’t you think I would’ve told you already if I had?! I, uh... it’s just that you’re always really quiet when we’re doing puzzles. It’s hard to tell what you’re thinking. Good. Now leave me be. I’ll let you know if I think of anything.Come back, Rae! Maybe he really doesn’t want to do this puzzle? Nah, that can’t be it. Who doesn’t like puzzles? Except Liza. Solved it yet, Liza? She’s focused on the screen, so she must be thinking of something, but... Ah, forget it. She’d just yell at me if I tried to talk to her. Looks like we won’t be getting any help from her... for the fifth time. Maybe Aether’s a better bet. Hey, Ink... how are we supposed to denote “ten”? That’s a good question. The triangular tiles make it difficult to form any discernible shape. Writing out “10” with digits is out of the question; there aren’t enough pieces and they aren’t even the right shape. Writing out “ten” in letters doesn’t work either. Hmm... we don’t have too many pieces to work with, so whatever it is we’re supposed to make, it’s probably simple. There must be some way of denoting “10” that we haven’t thought of...Hey, I managed to write 10 with digits just fine. It’s not my fault that the game can’t keep up with my vision. So... how else can I denote “ten”? Actually, now that I think about it... Ink! What’s up, Aether? I think I might have figured it out! Oh? Let’s hear it, then. It’s, um... Are you familiar with Roman numerals? Yeah. My memory is a little rusty, but I think roman numerals are all letters. I don’t remember which one is 10, exactly, but... Maybe it’s worth a try? Definitely worth a try.Aether’s evidently not a Final Fantasy fan. Ink! I think I remember. The roman numeral that represents 10... it’s the letter X! Oh yeah! I definitely did know that, by the way... Uh-huh. And I’m pretty sure you could make an “X” with the pieces we have here. Yeah... that has to be it. Nice work, Aether! Hehe! Thanks!Aww, this is pretty endearing. Glad Aether had a chance to solve a puzzle at last! Bifauxnen and Blueberry Pancakes also suggested going for an X. You sure look happy. I’m just really glad that I finally managed to help solve a puzzle. Up until now, I’ve just been dead weight... Don’t say that! You’ve been plenty helpful! Thanks, Ink. Anyway, you should probably go ahead and draw that “X”. I’m no good with that thing... Right. Leave it to me. If only I knew how to draw an X. Maybe Rae can help. (I didn’t even create this mess as a joke. I somehow forgot I was supposed to be using negative space, despite the fact that negative space has been involved in every other tile puzzle to date, so this, embarrassingly enough, was my genuine best effort at drawing an X before I realised these pieces weren’t going to work.) Man, I’d sure love Rae’s help on this one. Hopefully he makes his way up soon. No? I suppose we’d better get back to our resident X-pert. (Sorry. I can only make it clear where hints begin and end if I say something after each of them, and sometimes the lines really aren’t going to be winners.) You should probably go ahead and draw that “X”. I’m no good with that thing... Right.“X” means 10 in roman numerals. There’s no two ways about it; that’s the answer. Yeah, but are we sure it’s the answer? I’m going to ask Beth for a second opinion. Hey, Beth... Yes? Do you think there’s any way to draw straight lines using these pieces? No, it doesn’t look like drawing straight lines with these pieces would be possible. That’s what I thought... drat. You could probably make lines that go diagonally if you wanted. Oh yeah? How? You need to place opposite pieces adjacent to each other. For example, if you take a piece with a white triangle in the top-right corner and place it one space to the left of a piece with a white triangle in the bottom-left corner, you’ll form part of a diagonal line. Do you see what I mean? Yeah, I think I get it.I’d say diagonal lines count as straight lines! If you talk to Beth again, she just repeats her ‘drawing a diagonal line’ advice. Which means we’ve exhausted the hints from everyone present. Er. Rae...? This puzzle sure has me stumped. My one Rae of hope is that lazy programmer. ...That was kinda funny, right? Oh, my God, Ink. I retract any remorse I may have felt over ‘X-pert’. Where the hell is he?! He had better get back soon! We can’t afford to fall into ‘dis-a-Rae!’ ...Alright, that one was pretty bad. why is this happening Rae-knee? Nah, no context. Rae-bees? No, that’s even worse... Oh, got it! Rae’s lethargy is annoying me more than dried grapes!  What’s this about raisins...? Oh, uh... n-nevermind. I didn't mean to say that out loud. Why do you keep looking back at the stairs with that smug grin on your face? Well, Rae is still down there and, uh... Rae will make his way up eventually. For now, just focus on the puzzle, alright? ...Yes, ma’am.I guess my stand-up career isn't going anywhere... I can’t believe this. This is the worst game I’ve ever played. ...I should probably just concentrate on the puzzle.   We’ve solved the puzzle, but at what cost? The music stops.  There’s an electronic chirp. (Music: Ad Nauseam (Tendrils)) ...Sent.   You’re making great progress thus far! I am truly in awe of your puzzle-solving prowess! I can only hope you’re all enjoying Exit/Corners as much as I am. Don’t fret; we’re just getting started. I have a lot more in store for all of you. Who the hell would find this kind of game entertaining?!  Speaking of which, you’re probably all still soaking wet! How inhospitable of me! I shall facilitate the drying process posthaste! Avoid getting too cozy, though... Sent disappears, and the music stops. Would it kill him to be a little less cryptic? What do you expect? This is fun for him. Me? I was just following up on a theory of mine. I came to solve the puzzle, but I guess you guys have already taken care of that.  Until I know what the gently caress is going on, I’m not giving any of you the benefit of the doubt. Come on, now isn’t the time to distrust each other. Our best chance at getting out of here is to work together. Rae fades out.   Aren’t you going to tell us what that theory of yours was? What did I just tell you?! I don’t trust any of you. How would letting you know benefit me in any way? I-I just thought you’d be kind enough to share. You’re really smart, so whatever your theory is, you’re probably on the right track. You tryin’ to butter me up or somethin’? Come on, Rae. Are you seriously just going to leave us champing at the bit like this?  Prove me wrong, then. You’re just tryin’ to—  Every. Single. Time. The last thing I need is a headache from listening to the two of you squabble.  Geez, you people just don’t let up. I guess sharing wouldn’t really change anything.(Music: Punishing Fire)  Underground? What made you think that? One of the first things I noticed after waking up was that there aren’t any windows in here. It got me thinkin’.  Sunlight is essential to keep the human body’s internal clock accurate. Without windows, the only way to tell the time indoors would be to look at a clock. It’s unnatural. This is why casinos are commonly void of windows — so that gamblers lose track of time and continue playing games. Some dedicated gamblers warp their internal clock so much that they pass out and are sent to the hospital. It’s sad, really. Let’s not get distracted, guys. So there aren’t any windows... that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re underground, though, does it? I mean, Sent wouldn’t want us to be able to see the outside of the hotel anyway; we’d know where we were instantly. Couldn’t it be possible that we’re heading up now, only to head down again later? I’m not so sure about that. Think about our situation logistically. I don’t follow. Any extra space is useless, especially since you’re planning on blowing it up at the end of the day. The more complicated you make our intended path, the more likely that problems crop up. I’d wager that Sent wants to keep potential complications to a minimum. Well, when you put it that way, it does sound pretty convincing. Don’t it? So I decided to have a look at those chairs at the bottom of the stairs. There were a bunch of ‘em piled high, but I wanted to see what was underneath. And? What’d you find? It’s just concrete. The chairs weren’t actually covering anything up. I don’t know why they’re even there. Concrete?! That’s it?! That doesn’t tell us anything! How do you know that your proof is, err, concrete?  Yeah? And why’s that? There are countless regulations in place that need to be followed for the project to even leave the planning phase. Underground facilities have even tighter building restrictions. Buildings as big as this one require an automatic sprinkler system on all underground floors. And yet... I haven’t seen a single one. It’s in the International Building Code. I once looked into getting an underground home, so I did some research. I never ended up buying one, though... In any case, I don’t think it’s possible that we’re underground. Yeah, well, I still stand by what I said. I don’t think there’s anything below us. I don’t see how that can be correct, but believe what you will.As much as I want to tell them they’re both right... something definitely doesn’t add up here. The music stops.  Ink shrugged. Rae heaved the large iron door open and slipped through, followed by Beth and Liza.  Sort of. Think we could talk privately for a bit? Sure. What’s on your mind? Hostile. Yeah, I’ve noticed. It’s pretty hard not to. What little trust we had for each other has vanished. Everyone thinks that Sent is one of us.(Music: Aetherling) Do you think so too, Ink? Is Sent really one of us? Saying ‘no’ gets us a trust point with Aether, so... No. I’m not saying I don’t have my suspicions, but... I don’t want to believe it. The other Contestants have their quirks, to be sure, but I don’t think that any of them are bad people. That goes for you, too, of course. Hopefully you don’t find that too naive of me. I know you can’t just delegate people as being “good” or “bad”... but the person who set all this up is a total sadist. I don’t think any of us fit the bill.  Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s tough to act like a team when everyone’s suspicious of everyone else. You and I seem to be on the same page, but I’m not sure if we’ll be able to inspire camaraderie in the others so easily... Did you have anything in mind? To get everyone to trust one another, I mean? I, uh... I’m not sure if the others would really be down for that. ...Right. I knew that. I’m not always so gloomy, you know. I’ve been told I’m pretty playful on a normal day. Is that so? Looks like I’ll have to catch you on a normal day, then.The two Contestants shared a warm smile. Ink felt a shiver creep up his spine. What’s wrong with me? This is NOT the time. Get it together, Ink... He cleared his throat in an attempt to steer the conversation back on course. I, uh... I’m not sure if we’re going to be able to successfully convince the other Contestants to trust each other. The rest of them seem to be beyond persuasion. The only way we’re going to be able to get everyone to work together is if we provide them irrefutable proof that Sent isn’t one of us. It’s a shame that neither of us will be able to. We’ve been at Sent’s mercy from the outset of Exit/Corners. He has complete control and there isn’t a drat thing we can do about it. The amount of planning that went into this game is insane. I don’t think Sent would be careless enough to leave any kind of compromising information lying around. Even if there was, who says we'll be able to find it? I do! Detective Aether always solves the case!Well, she’s got the right attitude, if nothing else...  I’m flattered, Aether, but my skillset doesn’t exactly lend itself to... this. ’Course it does! You’re an English student, right? I’m sure you’ve read your fair share of detective novels. Well, yeah, I read a lot. But I really don’t think— Are you being serious right now? Absolutely!The music stops.  Yeah. Why not?  I was just making more work for myself by cropping the trust screen down, so here's what the entire thing looks like. The fact that Rae and Aether apparently trust us the same amount is cracking me up. You’d never know it! Rith fucked around with this message at 09:47 on Jul 6, 2022 |
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Nov 5, 2021 08:46
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More than just that, Rae trusts us more than Beth does!
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Nov 5, 2021 09:33
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