Corvinas
Adjunct
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Posts: 11
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Post by Corvinas on May 27, 2016 8:33:49 GMT -5
Subscribed to this last week for a three-month trial run to see if I like it and the quality of product is consistent. My first box is scheduled to arrive today (in the next couple hours no less). Will let everyone know what I think.
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Post by Todd on May 28, 2016 15:35:25 GMT -5
I found this month's box to be rather pedestrian. The "game" format continues, like last month's box, with the "Getting Started" guide, and a multi-player structure. But this time there are only a few puzzles to solve, instead occupying your time reading about some nearly 40 locations that are mostly not pertinent to the mystery.
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Corvinas
Adjunct
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Posts: 11
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Post by Corvinas on May 31, 2016 9:29:38 GMT -5
Busy holiday weekend kept me from really diving into the mystery yet, but plan to spend some time with it today. Was a little disappointed when I opened it - expected more tactile objects, of which there were a few. By and large though, I felt like it was mostly just printouts and reading material.
That said, I haven't actually delved into the mystery yet and with this being my first one, I don't have much basis for comparison. We'll see if I renew though after the initial three-month subscription.
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Post by tanders on May 31, 2016 13:26:42 GMT -5
We have been digging into the package and so far just found one puzzle to solve. Definitely feel short-changes so far. Perhaps there is more as we go further?
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Post by Todd on May 31, 2016 17:16:23 GMT -5
We have been digging into the package and so far just found one puzzle to solve. Definitely feel short-changes so far. Perhaps there is more as we go further? There are only two that jumped out at me. One that solves the story-arc, and one that seems just a bit off until you take a step back.
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Post by centaurofattn on May 31, 2016 20:10:25 GMT -5
Did you have any trouble with the more time consuming of the two?
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Post by tanders on Jun 1, 2016 6:31:07 GMT -5
I have done the puzzle on the back of the funeral paperwork so far. Gave me trouble because there was no indication that more would need to be done post translation. The only reason I knew it was because I put it through an online solver. Even then, can't believe they managed to spell a word wrong in the puzzle itself. this is the second month in a row they have done that on one of these puzzles. at least this time it was easy to see what it was supposed to say.
Still, where is all the online content and interaction that was mentioned when I signed up? I might give them one more month to see if they start to improve again...
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Post by helenahandbasket on Jun 1, 2016 18:45:05 GMT -5
I have to say, I don't understand the complaints about solving the cipher on the back of the funeral program. I have to agree that ME choosing to use a sans-serif font for nonsense text was a poor decision, it's impossible to proofread garbage text when I and l (upper case i and lower case l) look identical. Those were, indeed the two typos in the rather long text. That aside, I honestly believe that if MPC had offered that puzzle in an issue, maybe even over two issues, they would be getting props for putting together a nice difficult puzzle that had a solution in plain sight. My experience solving it is apparently different than other people's. Here's how it went: We got banged over the head getting the program that has a cipher on it with Blaise de Vigeniere as a pallbearer and the bag of password from the same person/location. We got banged over the head again by the hints on the ME FB page because I'm guessing people were wondering where the hint page was and they were trying to answer all the questions in a post or two. So there was no doubt in my mind that the cipher was a Vigeniere and the password was on the card. When I went to Rumkin to solve the Vigeniere and it returned something other than intelligible text, I figured it had to be a two-step cipher and I had to figure out the second step. Since I know the guy has a thing for the number 64 and ROT ciphers, I did the obvious thing. But I was also mindful that at location 25, we got a key and I got it on the first try. FWIW, it makes absolutely no difference whether you apply ROTxx to the message that results from using the password in a Vigeniere solver or apply ROTxx to the password. The resulting message is the same either way. There are more than a few others who solved it more or less the same way. The people who seem to be the most negative about it loom to be people who put in the correct password, got 'garbage' back, then used a Vigeniere cracker, then got a password returned that looked like nonsense, then figured out it was a ROTxx, and then were supremely annoyed. In my honest opinion, this is a true situation of, "The Medium Is the Massage" -- if it had been in C&C, people who solved it correctly would be getting golf claps and praising The Curator vs. dissing him and questioning his mastery of that particular type of cipher. But it's all just my opinion and I have the distinct impression that myself and others, who have appreciated ME putting in one 'hard' puzzle every issue (even though it doesn't move the story forward -- the hard ones never have), are in the minority. Of course, I have a few beefs. They need to be putting the solutions in envelopes because it's way too easy in this mailing (and in Coraline) to accidentally thumb thru stuff or wade thru paper and happen upon the narrative solution without realizing it. I also think if these things are going to be paper-focused, they need a paper consultant because they could do a lot better for the same money. Switching up paper types isn't going to be an appreciable expense; folding, stuffing envelopes, etc., is stuff that can be done by machine these days. And it wouldn't have hurt Grave Matters to have had the microfiche image printed in the negative (white on black) because, well, that's how microfiche prints (even now). I do like it better when the chachkis are more important to the story than they were this go-round. And I like it with more puzzles. And I wish the puzzles were more challenging. I think The Raven is the best one they've done so far, in spite of hating having to listen to that asinine voice repeatedly. It doesn't bother me that the puzzles are easy, it doesn't even bother me that there are fewer puzzles. I have friends who enjoy the story telling and it's fun to have them over, crack a bottle of wine, and goof around for a couple hours. I think ME might be evolving into tactile story telling, which is probably quite a good market. I know that we maniacs think they're dumbing it down, but in my opinion that means we might be subscribing to the wrong service vs. them having a bad business model.
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Post by tanders on Jun 2, 2016 6:36:46 GMT -5
We finished up the mystery last night and here are my impressions. I enjoyed the overall story, but I do feel a bit cheated to only have two puzzles to solve, only one of which really helped point to the solution. I feel ME needs to either go back to involved puzzles a la The Raven, or change their focus to, as said in a previous post, more tactile story telling. We liked the freedom to visit many different places, reminded me of Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective. I do feel they have been slowly cutting back on the quality and number of items within the monthly mailing. As my husband says, it is probably hard putting out a full new mystery every month. It seems they have removed any interaction with phone numbers, or online websites which is a shame since they still point that out on the website as one of the key features. We will give it another month to see what new lessons they have learned from this scenario and determine if things will get better or continue to go downhill...
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Post by Todd on Jun 2, 2016 8:45:27 GMT -5
My experience in solving the "difficult" puzzle was as follows: After seeing the repeated use of the name Vigenere, I made an assumption about the type of cipher used. I had already located the presumed keyword, and I worked through the translation. I saw very quickly that this wasn't producing words, and then immediately noticed that the letters I was getting were only one letter away from words. Puzzle solved. Everyone is entitled to like what they like. I recognize that I am a little above average when it comes to puzzle solving, and as such am harder to please. What impresses me are things I haven't seen before (i.e. the Horse Ad). Puzzles that are still puzzles months later. That sort of thing isn't going to work well in a monthly stand-alone box. These puzzles would discourage most casual players, and as such I'm the niche market, not them. And I'm certainly not the target audience of anyone hoping to make a lot of money. Mystery Experiences is clearly going for the Party Game format at this time. That also does not appeal to me. But it is a perfectly acceptable format, and something many people enjoy. I have a similar lack of interest in Motherland, as I am not a fan of card games. While I hope other people enjoy it for what it is, I also hope there is a hidden puzzle in the cards so that I can enjoy it, too. I've got at least one more ME box coming my way. I suspect they're going to continue in their current direction and that I'll be cancelling my subscription soon. That's not a judgement on the people who do like their product. It's just me freeing up some cashflow to look for something that's more my style.
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jr
Adjunct
Posts: 10
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Post by jr on Jun 6, 2016 22:06:22 GMT -5
I must be really really slow, even after following your hints but my message still comes out at nonsense. I figured that the keyword was catacombs. When first passed through the Vigenere it gave me a nonsensical answer. Thinking I had to be on the right path but was missing something I came here for clues. after going to the ROT cipher solver I shifted my key by 64 and tried again. I still got nothing legible. What am I doing wrong please? I figured it out eventually using the hint from Todd about shifting one letter, but I don't understand what I did wrong.
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Post by helenahandbasket on Jun 7, 2016 6:46:27 GMT -5
I must be really really slow, even after following your hints but my message still comes out at nonsense. I figured that the keyword was catacombs. When first passed through the Vigenere it gave me a nonsensical answer. Thinking I had to be on the right path but was missing something I came here for clues. after going to the ROT cipher solver I shifted my key by 64 and tried again. I still got nothing legible. What am I doing wrong please? I figured it out eventually using the hint from Todd about shifting one letter, but I don't understand what I did wrong. I don't think you did anything wrong at all! My post wasn't really a hint at all, it was literal -- which makes it a pretty bad hint A Caesar/ROT cipher of 25 shifts the letter a to letter z, which is a one letter shift backwards. I guess you could think of it as ROT-1. I admit to keeping location 25 in the back of my head because of the 64 reference, which has become a running gag and draws attention, and because of the key. 64 itself wasn't the answer to anything in this one, but location and key were important.
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darkphoenix
Assistant
Reality is the sensations most percieved.
Posts: 72
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Post by darkphoenix on Jun 7, 2016 8:51:50 GMT -5
My experience in solving the "difficult" puzzle was as follows: After seeing the repeated use of the name Vigenere, I made an assumption about the type of cipher used. I had already located the presumed keyword, and I worked through the translation. I saw very quickly that this wasn't producing words, and then immediately noticed that the letters I was getting were only one letter away from words. Puzzle solved. Everyone is entitled to like what they like. I recognize that I am a little above average when it comes to puzzle solving, and as such am harder to please. What impresses me are things I haven't seen before (i.e. the Horse Ad). Puzzles that are still puzzles months later. That sort of thing isn't going to work well in a monthly stand-alone box. These puzzles would discourage most casual players, and as such I'm the niche market, not them. And I'm certainly not the target audience of anyone hoping to make a lot of money. Mystery Experiences is clearly going for the Party Game format at this time. That also does not appeal to me. But it is a perfectly acceptable format, and something many people enjoy. I have a similar lack of interest in Motherland, as I am not a fan of card games. While I hope other people enjoy it for what it is, I also hope there is a hidden puzzle in the cards so that I can enjoy it, too. I've got at least one more ME box coming my way. I suspect they're going to continue in their current direction and that I'll be cancelling my subscription soon. That's not a judgement on the people who do like their product. It's just me freeing up some cashflow to look for something that's more my style. Based on the preferences you've stated, don't set your hopes too high for Motherland. It doesn't seem like your thing. But hey, at least it's free, which is really nice of the MPC. I think this is the sort of game some will love and some won't.
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Post by bladedraconis on Jun 10, 2016 18:27:02 GMT -5
I will be cancelling my subscription after the Mad Hatter.
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Post by distantsmoke on Jun 11, 2016 18:00:26 GMT -5
I haven't had much luck with the ME. I subscribed back in April, didn't get Coraline, got Grave matters, but haven't gotten the Mad Hatter. I wasn't too impressed with Grave Matters. I've enjoyed my MPC package far more. And I'm loving the catchup omnibus. I did order one of the premium experiences from ME. I won't give up on them yet. I also ordered The Weeping Book from MPC and I can't wait for it to arrive.
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