It's fascinating to see Simon's dedication to not bifurcating even when most videogame puzzles are designed to be bifurcated. They are built with the assumption that players will click everywhere and try out solutions until they eventually beat through to the answer. Honestly I'd like to see a game like this have a no-bifurcation mode for people like Simon, where it doesn't give you indications that you've broken rules, it just doesn't solve until it's all complete. I understand why Simon doesn't like the feedback, he wants to master the rules in his own head and not outsource the debugging to the software. That is a much more satisfying way to do it, especially when the rules are clear like they are here.
I’ve been playing this game for 40+ hours and it has so much more to discover. I loved that y’all accidentally started with a “grandmaster” level puzzle. Tons of fun!
39:00 it's worth noting that these "area number" sections only say "yes" and "no" if what you put down contradicts the rules. Like if you sealed off a section that said 9 when it only had 8, or if you add to it creating 10. It doesn't actually tell you that you have the CORRECT 9 spaces chosen, just that there are 9 currently.
But it also looks like there isn't a unique 'correct' solution, just that what you've put down is valid. Edit: I think I'm wrong, and they are unique solutions.
1:28:01 Simon, the oddness of the sounds is directly proportional to volume of wine consumed, and indirectly proportional to scale of Mark’s contribution to the solution.
The insight popups are just hints for players that don't already understand the logic (maybe were just using trial and error to brute force puzzles, most players probably understand those before they display). The hint system as you discovered in the 3 Star puzzle is a little wonky, I think they are more helpful when they let you know something is wrong than they are at showing you the next tile to look at. I love this game, it's a lot of fun, relaxing, and like a spa for my brain.
Please, for the next stream, adjust the resolution to 1920*1080. RUclips's compression makes it hard to read some of the text and see some of the details when you're on 720p in-game. Nevertheless, enjoyed the stream as always!
It's been mentioned elsewhere but I hope @Cracking The Cryptic takes note: The cursor is colored black on the left half and white on the right half as a constant reminder of which button does which color.
I highly recommend you play Lingo by Brenton Wildes. It’s a massive word game where you have to solve colored panels scattered around huge non-Euclidean maps and you have to figure out all of the rules yourself. Each panel gives you a word and you have to use or transform that word in some way to get the answer.
oh damn you're right how did I never think of suggesting that, I'm sure they would totally love Lingo edit: actually upon watching a bit more, I don't know so much, I feel like Simon's issues with motion sickness would get in the way even more there than they do here, but I mean would still be worth them giving a try, especially if he can find some way to mitigate that
I haven't played so this isn't confirmed, but Simon had trouble remembering which mouse click matched to black/white and was worried about misclicking. But in those puzzles, the mouse pointer turns half-black on the left side and half-white on the right side, giving him a visual reminder if he forgets in the heat of a puzzle.
Regarding the nurikabe puzzle around an hour in, there were a few bits of logic Simon was missing. 1) The 3 could not be forced to take all its cells to the left or else the 4 area would be broken by the dark cells having to escape. This made the cell to the left of the 6 dark. 2) The dark cell above the 2 could not escape to the left, so the cell to its right had to be dark. This in turn forced the 5 area up to prevent a 2x2 while allowing the top area of dark cells to escape. 3) The hint. If that cell were light, the dark cells would force the 5 into a ‘W’ shape to escape. However, this would force the 3 right and break the 6. Therefore, that cell had to be dark and the 3 was forced up to prevent a 2x2.
I've got about 100 hours into this game. There are some truly great block puzzles in here. And some great setters contributed to the harder puzzles of the game. Really recommend playing through it all for the block puzzle logic
Loved the stream and the game is great. Graphics are gorgeous and really enjoying you exploring and cracking the not so cryptic- so far - puzzles. Please can you stream today as well.
Honestly, you're not *that* scatterbrained. On my playthrough, I first travelled up to another area jumping from one random puzzle to another until finding after 2 hours of being stranded in a random location far from the start that I'm actually supposed to awaken the areas by following the given path :D Luckily, travelling is pretty quick (if you don't stop every 2s trying to solve a puzzle, that is !)
Was anyone else thinking of cocker spaniels? Game: now go to the Pearl of the Verdant Glen so we can break you in gently. Simon: look a puzzle! And a hard puzzle❤ Puzzle.puzzle.puzzle. Mark: Maybe we should go to the pearl? Simon: oh right, and we'll ignore the puzzles. But puzzle! Infinite puzzles!!!
A few tips to assist you. I will not spoil anything. 1. You do not look for a 2D circle among the spheres. You stand in a position that allows the spheres to form a circle. They will turn white and you click inside the circle. 2. Mark assumed wrong on that first leap. It is not 1-way. You can return to that area to 100% it if desired. 3. On the Sentinel Stones, You need to see enough of the base of the pillar where it touches the ground so that it draws a gold line to your feet. Once you get all them to give you a gold line you can point at them to turn them all Teal. 4. Each area of the map has puzzles you cannot attempt (locked) until you complete the story enclaves to a certain point. I suggest focusing on these far enough to fully unlock your current region. 5. There is a quest giver standing by the Great Pearl. You can only have one at a time and it is a good idea to always have one active. 6. Sparks is a currency you use to purchase upgrades and cosmetics. When looking at the top right corner of the map, you can see your current balance. You can also change your title there.
I'm looking forward to further streams of this game, as the puzzles get really good. Unfortunately, progress is often locked behind puzzle types that may induce a bit of motion sickness. I hope it doesn't deter you!
Sorry I'm a bit late catching up on this because I wanted to play it myself, however I just wanted to say Simon should volunteer to playtest games for developers since he seems to be skilled at picking the most difficult path through the game possible. :D
just so you kniow, 1920x1080 (1080p) is the resolution you should always use for games. you were playing at 720p and stretching it out over 1080p which makes the game slightly blurry.
This game seems rather like a MMORPG but with puzzles instead of combat. I imagine some of them are probably procedurally generated rather than hand-crafted and it seems like there are daily challenges as well. Designed to keep people player again and again and again without ever really getting 100% completion. I know when Mark & Simon played "The Witness" they got only about 25% of all the possible puzzles in that game, some of which are absolutely ridiculous to try and find (like dragging through holes in tree canopies while staring at the sky at a particular point on a boatride).
It seems to be technically possible to get 100% completion, but it'll be a long time before anyone does it, if it ever happens. There are a bunch of enclaves and trials that clearly track completion progress, but even for the scattered puzzles around the main continent, there's a progress tracker. On the map screen, each area has 6 categories of 2-4 puzzle types per category, and for each puzzle type you can see a tracker like 10/27 (Today), 50/317 (All Time). Every day there are a limited number puzzles that rotate in and out. It's a huge number of puzzles in total, but it is finite, so you could finish it. Additionally there are some infinitely-generated puzzles, like a temple with infinite Armillary rings very early on. I am pretty sure the Skydrops (outside of the enclaves) are randomly generated too.
Actually, there are 2 kinds of puzzles in this game. Some are static and won't change, ever (those that have stars difficulty, like the one they spent quite a lot of time on, the challenges and those inside the enclaves). They're the most interesting/challenging and probably hand crafted. And there are 'fillers' that are periodically refreshed and are scattered around the main world. Those are designed as a snack between main ones (and may indeed be procedurally generated), but can be also quite fulfilling or challenging, they've got quite a variety around there. But even sticking to main puzzles (enclaves, challenges, star difficulty), there's a lot of content already, and enough variety that any puzzle enjoyer can find his craving (logic, kitenic, visual, sound ... take your pick !)
The large majority of them are hand crafted, it's only armillary rings and skydrops that are procedural. In the map, the game keeps track of how much of each puzzle you solved in each biome as well as showing the total amount of that puzzle type in that biome, the only puzzles that aren't tracked like that are the aforementioned rings and skydrops.
What's the idea behind letting a man that gets motion sickness from moving control the game? Wouldn't it be smarter to let the other guy do it instead? Great stream nonetheless!
I think that Simon is much more comfortable with computer games in general, so it makes sense from that point of view for Simon to have the controls. (He plays StarCraft 2, for example).
Motion sickness is worse if you're not the one in control. Same reason you could get sick in a car as passenger but not driver. Intention vs feedback mismatch is what causes sickness in the first place.
It's fascinating to see Simon's dedication to not bifurcating even when most videogame puzzles are designed to be bifurcated. They are built with the assumption that players will click everywhere and try out solutions until they eventually beat through to the answer.
Honestly I'd like to see a game like this have a no-bifurcation mode for people like Simon, where it doesn't give you indications that you've broken rules, it just doesn't solve until it's all complete. I understand why Simon doesn't like the feedback, he wants to master the rules in his own head and not outsource the debugging to the software. That is a much more satisfying way to do it, especially when the rules are clear like they are here.
I’ve been playing this game for 40+ hours and it has so much more to discover. I loved that y’all accidentally started with a “grandmaster” level puzzle. Tons of fun!
39:00 it's worth noting that these "area number" sections only say "yes" and "no" if what you put down contradicts the rules. Like if you sealed off a section that said 9 when it only had 8, or if you add to it creating 10. It doesn't actually tell you that you have the CORRECT 9 spaces chosen, just that there are 9 currently.
But it also looks like there isn't a unique 'correct' solution, just that what you've put down is valid.
Edit: I think I'm wrong, and they are unique solutions.
@@loomismeister most of the time it is unique solutions, although some puzzles will have multiple possible, just as long as it follows the rules
1:28:01 Simon, the oddness of the sounds is directly proportional to volume of wine consumed, and indirectly proportional to scale of Mark’s contribution to the solution.
The insight popups are just hints for players that don't already understand the logic (maybe were just using trial and error to brute force puzzles, most players probably understand those before they display). The hint system as you discovered in the 3 Star puzzle is a little wonky, I think they are more helpful when they let you know something is wrong than they are at showing you the next tile to look at.
I love this game, it's a lot of fun, relaxing, and like a spa for my brain.
Please, for the next stream, adjust the resolution to 1920*1080. RUclips's compression makes it hard to read some of the text and see some of the details when you're on 720p in-game. Nevertheless, enjoyed the stream as always!
looks fine to me, think you're being fussy
OH MAN
I thought of suggesting this game to you but figured it wouldn't be quite right. I love this game, I hope you enjoy it too.
It's been mentioned elsewhere but I hope @Cracking The Cryptic takes note: The cursor is colored black on the left half and white on the right half as a constant reminder of which button does which color.
Words cannot express how U N B E L I E V A B L Y excited i am to see you guys play through this game
I highly recommend you play Lingo by Brenton Wildes. It’s a massive word game where you have to solve colored panels scattered around huge non-Euclidean maps and you have to figure out all of the rules yourself. Each panel gives you a word and you have to use or transform that word in some way to get the answer.
oh damn you're right how did I never think of suggesting that, I'm sure they would totally love Lingo
edit: actually upon watching a bit more, I don't know so much, I feel like Simon's issues with motion sickness would get in the way even more there than they do here, but I mean would still be worth them giving a try, especially if he can find some way to mitigate that
I haven't played so this isn't confirmed, but Simon had trouble remembering which mouse click matched to black/white and was worried about misclicking. But in those puzzles, the mouse pointer turns half-black on the left side and half-white on the right side, giving him a visual reminder if he forgets in the heat of a puzzle.
This^ I had to get this game after seeing the stream and was getting a bit frustrated forgetting which was which until I noticed the mouse cursor!
oohh
Correct, there is even a tooltip at the start of the game that tells you that
Regarding the nurikabe puzzle around an hour in, there were a few bits of logic Simon was missing. 1) The 3 could not be forced to take all its cells to the left or else the 4 area would be broken by the dark cells having to escape. This made the cell to the left of the 6 dark. 2) The dark cell above the 2 could not escape to the left, so the cell to its right had to be dark. This in turn forced the 5 area up to prevent a 2x2 while allowing the top area of dark cells to escape. 3) The hint. If that cell were light, the dark cells would force the 5 into a ‘W’ shape to escape. However, this would force the 3 right and break the 6. Therefore, that cell had to be dark and the 3 was forced up to prevent a 2x2.
It's just 2x2 blacks that are not allowed? White 2x2 is allowed right? Seems a lot easier knowing this.
@@RemnantsOfBeauty white 2x2 are allowed in that puzzle
I've got about 100 hours into this game. There are some truly great block puzzles in here. And some great setters contributed to the harder puzzles of the game. Really recommend playing through it all for the block puzzle logic
Very much enjoyed watching this! ❤
Loved the stream and the game is great. Graphics are gorgeous and really enjoying you exploring and cracking the not so cryptic- so far - puzzles. Please can you stream today as well.
definitely getting whiplash from hearing simon say "chess battle advanced"
Absolutely brilliant!
Honestly, you're not *that* scatterbrained. On my playthrough, I first travelled up to another area jumping from one random puzzle to another until finding after 2 hours of being stranded in a random location far from the start that I'm actually supposed to awaken the areas by following the given path :D
Luckily, travelling is pretty quick (if you don't stop every 2s trying to solve a puzzle, that is !)
Was anyone else thinking of cocker spaniels? Game: now go to the Pearl of the Verdant Glen so we can break you in gently. Simon: look a puzzle! And a hard puzzle❤ Puzzle.puzzle.puzzle. Mark: Maybe we should go to the pearl? Simon: oh right, and we'll ignore the puzzles. But puzzle! Infinite puzzles!!!
1:57:25 chess battle advanced
@Icely C B A
A few tips to assist you. I will not spoil anything.
1. You do not look for a 2D circle among the spheres. You stand in a position that allows the spheres to form a circle. They will turn white and you click inside the circle.
2. Mark assumed wrong on that first leap. It is not 1-way. You can return to that area to 100% it if desired.
3. On the Sentinel Stones, You need to see enough of the base of the pillar where it touches the ground so that it draws a gold line to your feet. Once you get all them to give you a gold line you can point at them to turn them all Teal.
4. Each area of the map has puzzles you cannot attempt (locked) until you complete the story enclaves to a certain point. I suggest focusing on these far enough to fully unlock your current region.
5. There is a quest giver standing by the Great Pearl. You can only have one at a time and it is a good idea to always have one active.
6. Sparks is a currency you use to purchase upgrades and cosmetics. When looking at the top right corner of the map, you can see your current balance. You can also change your title there.
Yeah, they missed some explanations at the start of the game when they were distracted by chat.
I'm looking forward to further streams of this game, as the puzzles get really good. Unfortunately, progress is often locked behind puzzle types that may induce a bit of motion sickness. I hope it doesn't deter you!
Sorry I'm a bit late catching up on this because I wanted to play it myself, however I just wanted to say Simon should volunteer to playtest games for developers since he seems to be skilled at picking the most difficult path through the game possible. :D
Seven for the dwarf lords.
just so you kniow, 1920x1080 (1080p) is the resolution you should always use for games. you were playing at 720p and stretching it out over 1080p which makes the game slightly blurry.
This game seems rather like a MMORPG but with puzzles instead of combat. I imagine some of them are probably procedurally generated rather than hand-crafted and it seems like there are daily challenges as well. Designed to keep people player again and again and again without ever really getting 100% completion. I know when Mark & Simon played "The Witness" they got only about 25% of all the possible puzzles in that game, some of which are absolutely ridiculous to try and find (like dragging through holes in tree canopies while staring at the sky at a particular point on a boatride).
It seems to be technically possible to get 100% completion, but it'll be a long time before anyone does it, if it ever happens. There are a bunch of enclaves and trials that clearly track completion progress, but even for the scattered puzzles around the main continent, there's a progress tracker. On the map screen, each area has 6 categories of 2-4 puzzle types per category, and for each puzzle type you can see a tracker like 10/27 (Today), 50/317 (All Time). Every day there are a limited number puzzles that rotate in and out. It's a huge number of puzzles in total, but it is finite, so you could finish it.
Additionally there are some infinitely-generated puzzles, like a temple with infinite Armillary rings very early on. I am pretty sure the Skydrops (outside of the enclaves) are randomly generated too.
Actually, there are 2 kinds of puzzles in this game. Some are static and won't change, ever (those that have stars difficulty, like the one they spent quite a lot of time on, the challenges and those inside the enclaves). They're the most interesting/challenging and probably hand crafted. And there are 'fillers' that are periodically refreshed and are scattered around the main world. Those are designed as a snack between main ones (and may indeed be procedurally generated), but can be also quite fulfilling or challenging, they've got quite a variety around there. But even sticking to main puzzles (enclaves, challenges, star difficulty), there's a lot of content already, and enough variety that any puzzle enjoyer can find his craving (logic, kitenic, visual, sound ... take your pick !)
The large majority of them are hand crafted, it's only armillary rings and skydrops that are procedural. In the map, the game keeps track of how much of each puzzle you solved in each biome as well as showing the total amount of that puzzle type in that biome, the only puzzles that aren't tracked like that are the aforementioned rings and skydrops.
Trying not to lose hope to see The Talos Principle one day
No chat playback?
interaction for the youtube algorithm
a reticule is a purse
What's the idea behind letting a man that gets motion sickness from moving control the game? Wouldn't it be smarter to let the other guy do it instead?
Great stream nonetheless!
I think that Simon is much more comfortable with computer games in general, so it makes sense from that point of view for Simon to have the controls. (He plays StarCraft 2, for example).
Motion sickness is worse if you're not the one in control.
Same reason you could get sick in a car as passenger but not driver.
Intention vs feedback mismatch is what causes sickness in the first place.
The puzzle at 1 hour.... Did they ever work out it was just the 2x2 blacks were not allowed. White 2x2 are allowed.
They knew
@@fredfred9847 I don't think they did.
yes, they talk about the 5 in the top right quadrant making a P-pentomino