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Post by k80 on Oct 5, 2016 8:52:53 GMT -5
I solved this puzzle but had a couple of in-ink squares were off. So the ... thing wouldn't do the thing. Is anyone able to send me a proper one or some other aid? Give this a go:
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Post by hoopsmcelroy on Oct 5, 2016 20:06:39 GMT -5
I solved this puzzle but had a couple of in-ink squares were off. So the ... thing wouldn't do the thing. Is anyone able to send me a proper one or some other aid? Give this a go:
You are my hero, thank you.
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Post by k80 on Oct 5, 2016 22:27:25 GMT -5
It's not heroics, it's what we do. You're welcome.
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Post by jcdoe on Oct 6, 2016 4:39:41 GMT -5
Bizarre. That means it's different from when most of us solved it. For us it was a tear drop, the symbols for the issue 2 crossword and nonogram beneath it. A long list words inside it (bwa, bendy, etc), and a 10 character key. Are you talking about the flask? Yes, probably. It resembled a tear drop in shape, so I assumed they were the same clue.
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Post by ariock on Oct 30, 2016 21:02:35 GMT -5
So not DEHIYS4NRN Because that's wrong and spending hours anagramming it are wasted. other things that are wrong are "seep oozily" and "oozily seep" I am amazed at how many people on this board are fine with spending hours on anagrams that go nowhere because of a phrase that has multiple interpretations. For example... The article in the lower left of the front page, s? 2? Or since this isn't the end of this article, go to page 2 and take the g or the s?
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Post by Todd on Oct 31, 2016 5:17:03 GMT -5
Those of us who have been playing awhile are used to keeping an open mind, and working with multiple possible answers simultaneously.
Feel free to send me a Private Message if you are asking for assistance. I'm not sure if you're asking for help or just venting frustration.
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Post by ariock on Nov 1, 2016 12:14:19 GMT -5
Todd,
I'm venting. This had the beginnings of a great puzzle. Unindexed anagrams are the worst though. On top of that, I'm not sure why the day locks don't even have the common courtesy to indicate the number of words/letters. For example, the Snowflake. I'd found the words, but guessing which meaningless order was the one they wanted took hours. It also makes one doubt that the correct words were even found when a potentially valid order doesn't match the one required.
Are you familiar with Shinteki's monthly puzzles? They have a solution entry area, and they program it to give you a hint when you're close, but not quite there. Or have you used Cluekeeper? There are ways to make these less punishing.
Were the previous years volumes like this?
(edited to add) Oh, and I'm posting explicit non-solutions so people don't waste their time like I did. The MPC is suggesting that people buy old issues, and I'm hoping to help people waste a little less time going down fruitless paths.
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Post by k80 on Nov 1, 2016 12:59:02 GMT -5
Were the previous years volumes like this? I know you addressed this post to Todd, but I wanted to respond specifically to this part, and I hope you don't mind.
The third volume is a drastic departure from the first two volumes. In those issues, you didn't know even WHAT was a puzzle. Unless you noticed that
the line separator between columns was morse code you'd miss it entirely. There's a thing in one issue that looks like it should be a puzzle but it isn't (at least not yet).
There wasn't any
"Oh, geez, this kinda looks like an arbitrary constellation... if it didn't have a head and you kinda squint? Oh shit, that's the answer??" And each issue CERTAINLY wasn't put to bed inside a week. One of our members didn't even receive his issue, in CANADA, until we'd all already solved LITERALLY every puzzle.
What irritates you about the vault for volume 3 would, though, in its basic form, irritate you about the vaults for 1 and 2. There was a 24 hour lockout for wrong guesses. There were no blanks, no indication of how many characters it was. When we broke vault 2, we had NO IDEA if any of the answers we had would work. So the Priors, those of us working vault 2 who'd done (at least in catch-up) everything up to that point, took it in turns. We had, I don't remember, like 10 ideas for lock 8. So we made a list and when someone's lockout was done they came to the chat room to get their next try. Todd will be the first to tell you he got into that vault first purely by the luck of the lockout rotation.
And that vault didn't even go live until right before V3N1 shipped. No instant gratification at ALL.
This required us to work together. Some people got curios others didn't. We all had different experiences and knowledge bases. Volume 3? Someone very clever, with excellent google-fu, could never even have to come here or the chat room, because other than the community there's nothing we offer that she would need. The issues are, theoretically, solveable by themselves. And there's no phone numbers to call. No websites to visit with mysterious countdown timers. Now it's just a newspaper full of puzzles. We've just started to get the storyline back, maybe. In the last volumes each answer advanced the storyline.
This vent was a long time coming, and I'm sorry to unload it now. It's unlikely the MPC will ever read this anyway, and I love this community too much to consider cancelling my subscription- but I no longer love my subscription.
TL;DR:: No.
(edited to add) I'm in agreement with Todd, but like my ex-husband likes to say, I'm made with angry little parts. So compared to Todd I'm more... choleric. Todd says much more nicely what I mean.
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Post by Todd on Nov 1, 2016 13:01:36 GMT -5
Volumes 1 and 2 were considerably different than Volume 3. Not only were the puzzles less obviously puzzles, but there were elements that required us to work together to get results. For example, there were curios needed to solve puzzles that were not distributed to everybody. It required us to build a strong community to work together, share our resources, and treat this game as a team effort. There were times we knew certain pieces of puzzles, but hadn't yet received another part that made it all make sense. We held knowledge for months before there was a payoff. It was a game of patience, and of non-linear thinking. One that attracted a small, but highly dedicated, core audience.
Volume 3 saw a large influx of new subscribers due to the highly successful Kickstarter campaign for Century Beast, and the issues became more of a traditional puzzle magazine in some regards. There are those among us who were very disappointed to see the Puzzle Key panel in Volume 3 Issue 3, which provided the word counts and a list of all of the keys for both the nighttime and daytime side of the vault for that issue. But clearly it was provided as a concession to the many new subscribers who seek the sort of experience that you desire. To me, it seems the MPC have taken great steps to attempt to provide mass appeal for Curios & Conundrums, trying both to not alienate their existing subscribers, while providing a more friendly experience to their newest members. But it's important to consider that the absence of the things you think the game lacks is what other members find most appealing about it.
One thing that I hope we will be able to keep alive in the future is the community aspect of this adventure. I hope that here in the Unofficial Forum (UFo) and in the chat room, we can keep alive the spirit of cooperation that characterized the solving of the first two volumes. I hope that you will find us friendly and welcoming enough that you will choose to join in helping those who seek answers you have discovered.
Welcome!
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Post by ariock on Nov 4, 2016 21:22:51 GMT -5
Thank you, k8, for the detailed response. I couldn't have asked for better. My background with puzzles runs the gamut from Dell crosswords and logic puzzles to Alternate Reality Games, so I have some experience with finding puzzles that aren't obviously puzzles. I've been part of a community trying to solve a larger puzzle. But in that case, the puzzle designers had been priming us for the greater endeavor as part of a story. It is a little sad to hear that the story aspect has been lost in the current volume. Since I'm a recent Beaster though, I don't know what that was to miss it myself. This sounds more like Black Letter Labs, which had similarly unfortunately designed hidden puzzles, with red herrings and ambiguous wording. And which I no longer subscribe to. Thank you too, Todd, for the additional clarification. I get the unfortunate impression that you think that I have some wish for simpler puzzles. Taking twelve or ten letters and finding some way to anagram them is not a good puzzle. It's a poor puzzle. Unlocking a weird series of words, figuring out what they signify, figuring out their nomogram, figuring out what that means, finding the hidden account it refers to? All of that is a Great puzzle. To get to the end of that and have it be another unindexed anagram is just ridiculous. That's honestly my main complaint about the whole volume's puzzles. Indexing allows the solver to know they've gone off track. If solving a puzzle requires a village, that's fine, but create the village first, or point people to how to join it before selling it. Unless it's a treasure hunt, like Masquerade. Or CAH's Holiday BS. Sidebar. I dislike anagrams generally. My solving friend wants me to say that these are bad anagrams. A good anagram has one result. A bad anagram has multiple results. End sidebar. Anyway. Thanks again to you both. I'll try to help for issue 4 but I don't think I'll be as quick as you all. I likely won't be back after this volume.
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Post by ariock on Nov 5, 2016 18:21:24 GMT -5
Ok. Fine. I've tried both eye pooling and pooling eye (both of which go pretty damn well with a teardrop) and both were incorrect. Please put me out of my misery with a pm.
Things that are incorrect continued: eye potions. eyes potion. oozes piety.
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Post by craigrj on Nov 6, 2016 5:13:30 GMT -5
You've got the wrong "eye" I'm afraid...
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Post by ariock on Nov 6, 2016 11:05:09 GMT -5
You've got the wrong "eye" I'm afraid... I've many wrong "Eye"s At least four, each wrong for some reason I can't divine. Your clue could mean I'm right to use that word, but need to find the proper anagrams to go with it. Your clue could mean that I've chosen the wrong letters that make up that word, and need to change everything. Your clue could mean that the letter corresponding to a homophone of that word is wrong. Your clue could mean a fourth or fifth thing I'm too tired to think of right now. All of which boils down as far as I can see to "keep trying" and I've spent more time trying than is reasonable at this point. If you'd rather not post something more explicit, please pm me the answer, or 10 correct letters, or whatever. I am a broken man. I'm not proud. Yesterday, in the spaces between waiting to try another pointless anagram, I solved the daytime Eye, Key, and Leaf. This is the last one for me (until the next one arrives). I don't want to think about this anymore. Help me. For the love of God, help me! If I die today, do you want on your conscience that my last living thoughts were about this stupid anagram? Have mercy! *weeps bitter tears* anyway, cheers.
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Post by Todd on Nov 6, 2016 12:44:55 GMT -5
I've sent you a PM. You'll get this...
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Post by k80 on Nov 7, 2016 10:19:46 GMT -5
Thank you, k8, for the detailed response. I couldn't have asked for better. My background with puzzles runs the gamut from Dell crosswords and logic puzzles to Alternate Reality Games, so I have some experience with finding puzzles that aren't obviously puzzles. I've been part of a community trying to solve a larger puzzle. But in that case, the puzzle designers had been priming us for the greater endeavor as part of a story. It is a little sad to hear that the story aspect has been lost in the current volume. Since I'm a recent Beaster though, I don't know what that was to miss it myself. This sounds more like Black Letter Labs, which had similarly unfortunately designed hidden puzzles, with red herrings and ambiguous wording. And which I no longer subscribe to. Thank you too, Todd, for the additional clarification. I get the unfortunate impression that you think that I have some wish for simpler puzzles. Taking twelve or ten letters and finding some way to anagram them is not a good puzzle. It's a poor puzzle. Unlocking a weird series of words, figuring out what they signify, figuring out their nomogram, figuring out what that means, finding the hidden account it refers to? All of that is a Great puzzle. To get to the end of that and have it be another unindexed anagram is just ridiculous. That's honestly my main complaint about the whole volume's puzzles. Indexing allows the solver to know they've gone off track. If solving a puzzle requires a village, that's fine, but create the village first, or point people to how to join it before selling it. Unless it's a treasure hunt, like Masquerade. Or CAH's Holiday BS. Sidebar. I dislike anagrams generally. My solving friend wants me to say that these are bad anagrams. A good anagram has one result. A bad anagram has multiple results. End sidebar. Anyway. Thanks again to you both. I'll try to help for issue 4 but I don't think I'll be as quick as you all. I likely won't be back after this volume. The puzzles in the first two volumes were Great Puzzles, IMHO. The red herring was of our own invention, really. It's my assumption that the format was changed, at least indirectly, for/because of the Beasters. It's my hope that volume 4 will revert at least in part to the previous format, and I'm willing to reserve my judgment and my cancellation until they have a chance to right their ship. I did the first two volumes as catch-ups. My first live issue was v3n1, so you can imagine my disappointment at the complete departure from what I'd been fully immersed in for a month.
Most of the solving happens in the chat room. We would LOVE to see you there, solving in real time with us. You seem clever, and we're a lot of fun.
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