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AG Community Playthrough #65 - Keepsake

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Nooo, I totally lost it. Yes, indeed Zak did say several times “What was that?” as if scared of something, but I never saw anything. -_-

I had said at the beginning that the cameras in this game reminded me at times of the old and beloved Alone In the Dark, and now what happened? I’m controlling a feline, just like in Alone In the Dark 3, except this one is much more docile.

 

     

” I remember. Somebody died. It was me.”
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I think I saw the owl fly out of the study door.. and it’s been haunting the grounds ever since.

@Dcast: I do hope Zak gets more interesting, the lying and cowering could use some variation. From what I can tell, there’s a surprise coming up. I’m ready!

Regarding the potion: I think I have everything I need, including the cauldron. I should be en route in no time.

Also: I’ve been playing this game in windowed mode about half the time. It seems I’m now discussing it in similar fashion.

(edit: this was a reference to an ad plastered all over the background of the site at the time)

     
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Vegetable Party - 01 April 2021 07:04 AM

I think I saw the owl fly out of the study door.. and it’s been haunting the grounds ever since.

Same here. It felt scripted, but since not all of us have experienced it maybe it’s a random thing. But if I remember correctly the owl appeared after solving the puzzle to open a door in the room with the info about Winterowl, and it seemed to me there is a connection.

     
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I have completed the remaining two trials. I haven’t finished this section yet, I think. The transport system is not working.  I’m in the lab after Zak’s revelation about who he really is. Oh…and finally I could see the owl. xp

But I wanted to say that this new section of the Academy is simply beautiful, bellisima. I love it.

     

” I remember. Somebody died. It was me.”
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DCast - 31 March 2021 08:08 AM

What are everyone’s least favorite puzzles?

My least favourite are the ones where I don’t know whether I’m thinking them through or not, where I can’t take for granted whether even my first step is right.

For example in this game, the one that I had the hardest time with was the second trial. I read “I am the source of life”, that’s water, no doubt about it, I said to myself at first. So I wasted a lot of time there, then I said to myself…no, “hard as rock” can be earth too, and again I wasted more time trying combinations that didn’t lead me to anything. So I would say that I have more trouble with those that are more subject to a certain interpretation of what this or that could mean.

Some time ago I played again a game called Outcry(Sublustrum), I like its dark and mysterious atmosphere. Anyway, I hated the last puzzle, basically I had to achieve a certain wind instrument to have the same tone as another instrument, there were levers, strings, and every time I modified one I had to use a lift and go to the other lever and so on. Then use a metal stick and hit it and see if it had the same tone. I spent many hours trying to figure it out.

The main problem was that (apart from wasting time between floors and watching the corresponding animation) is that I didn’t know which one was the right one and which one I had to modify. I kept thinking “This one sounds exactly the same” and nothing. Besides, when I moved an instrument it had no end, with a sky in the background that didn’t serve me as a reference at all. That is to say, there were moments where I didn’t know if I was making a 360° turn or if I still had to go on.

So I would say that although I consider myself an imaginative person, when it comes to puzzles I find them much easier when they are more structured. I like riddles but I know I’m going to need more time and limit my imagination so I don’t go off on unnecessary tangents.

     

” I remember. Somebody died. It was me.”
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Tenebra - 01 April 2021 07:21 PM
DCast - 31 March 2021 08:08 AM

What are everyone’s least favorite puzzles?

 

For example in this game, the one that I had the hardest time with was the second trial. I read “I am the source of life”, that’s water, no doubt about it, I said to myself at first. So I wasted a lot of time there, then I said to myself…no, “hard as rock” can be earth too, and again I wasted more time trying combinations that didn’t lead me to anything. So I would say that I have more trouble with those that are more subject to a certain interpretation of what this or that could mean.

Totally. Like I stated above, second trial was my most time-consuming puzzle so far. In my case, however, I had the hardest time with fire rune. I completely excluded it from the line-up because I couldn’t see it matching any descriptions. That was the one I had to brute force eventually, and find that it works. Only AFTER puzzle being solved and thinking about it a little longer I was able to see the connection…

That puzzle from Outcry sounds brutal!

     
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DCast - 01 April 2021 07:39 PM

Totally. Like I stated above, second trial was my most time-consuming puzzle so far. In my case, however, I had the hardest time with fire rune. I completely excluded it from the line-up because I couldn’t see it matching any descriptions. That was the one I had to brute force eventually, and find that it works. Only AFTER puzzle being solved and thinking about it a little longer I was able to see the connection…

That puzzle from Outcry sounds brutal!

I’m generally not fond of riddle based puzzles and the second trial in Keepsake was no exception. I’m sure everything made sense in the writers’ heads at the time, but to me they mostly didn’t. Partly that may be because English is not my first language though.

Finally managed to brute solve my way through the second trial.The fire rune was the one I felt was the most certain, although I couldn’t see the logic in the “when I hide your friend is gone” bit. Do they mean that an actual friend around the fire becomes invisible when the fire “hides”? If so, what if it’s day, not night? Or is it the fire itself a metaphorical friend? Anyway; for two of the riddles I decided that there were two possible runes (spirit or fire for one, spirit or energy for the other). From there I just brute forced the trial. I’d say more or less any of the rest of the runes would have made just as much sense for the two remaining riddles as the ones actually working.

So far so good upstairs in the castle. I remember having a hard time with this second part of the game 15 years ago. Here the addition of the map makes a huge difference. When the game didn’t have one the place was extremely confusing and it was almost impossible to know if you had actually found all places where you could go. And frustrating to find your way back to a place you had visited before. Finding places and mapping the upstairs part of the castle based on the colored portals was supposed to be a puzzle in itself, before criticism and/or demands from the US publisher must have made the developer put a map function in there. To this background it’s a bit funny listening to Lydia asking Zak “do you remember if the yellow or red portal leads to Nathaniel’s office?” Or her setting things up for the puzzle by telling Zak how one should go about mapping the place.

 

 

     
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So far in the game, the puzzles I like the least are the riddles, the second trial in particular.
The trouble with riddles, is that they assume a common understanding of language and experience and are open to a degree of interpretation. So, for them to work in a puzzle situation, you should have good clues to direct you, or specific mechanics that limits the range of choices (i.e. Oknytt). The issue I had with the second trial is you had to get 4 correct before you could progress. As it ended up being much of a guessing game for me, it would have been nice to know when one choice was the right one so then I only needed to guess 3 more. I needed help to solve those riddles, basically because I was convinced that :



When around me
You’re never alone
But when I hide
Your friend is gone
was alluding to a shadow which comes from the sun, hence ‘Celestial’

Howling out of sight
Caress without a touch
Whispers in the night
That doesn’t say much
This to me was wind, movement, spirit.
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Its everywhere but you can’t grab it
Its in your possession but it own you
If by misfortune you lose it,
Surely it will be the end of you
My choices here were spirit, energy, and nature


Hard as a rock or soft as moss
I am a source of life but kill as well
And your last dance comes,
In my welcoming arms you’ll dwell.
This was the most obvious as earth, nature.

I was close , but no cigar. 
Totally missed fire for shadow, and would not have ever guessed celestial for Howling out of sight. In retrospect, maybe my mistake was taking things too literally

I’m thrilled that I have a Siamese cat as a friend, since I’m used to walking around with my Seal Point Gracie at my feet. I’m working at getting the transporters up and running.

     

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It is interesting how people have different problems with second trial.

Personally, i found the first riddle the hardest and the third the easiest.

I was like 95% sure that the answer was right at third one and my second guess was earth.

Second and fourth were making sense but were matching to 2-3 answers each.

My complain was the first one. The night reference lead me to fire but fire wasnt howling out of sight. Actually none of the answers was howling and at the same time whispering. Fire was matching the rest of the first riddle also. The caress without touch, whispers in the night that doesnt say much. Thing is that english isnt my first language and i checked dictionary for celectial and the translation was something in the sky. So that was misleading. Second popular translation was something like divine that matches more the first riddle. But still why howing and why in the night.

Anyway, i m the impatient type and checked hints. First hint told me how the machine was working i allready knew. Second hint narrowed down the runes to 4 out of 8. After this it took me 5 min to get it right. All in all it took me around an hour to solve.

I did have easier time with bridge and teleport puzzles. I managed to solve those alone in like 10 min each. I had to draw on paper the teleport puzzle though.

Still havent been at the spot i need to stop. Not sure if there are more puzzles.

     
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Veovis - 02 April 2021 02:04 AM

Finally managed to brute solve my way through the second trial.The fire rune was the one I felt was the most certain, although I couldn’t see the logic in the “when I hide your friend is gone” bit. Do they mean that an actual friend around the fire becomes invisible when the fire “hides”? If so, what if it’s day, not night? Or is it the fire itself a metaphorical friend? Anyway; for two of the riddles I decided that there were two possible runes (spirit or fire for one, spirit or energy for the other). From there I just brute forced the trial. I’d say more or less any of the rest of the runes would have made just as much sense for the two remaining riddles as the ones actually working.

colpet already beat me to it, but I AFTER I brute-forced this part as well, I came to realization that the shadow is our “friend”, and it will disappear if the fire will go out… I would have never come up with it myself, mostly because I wouldn’t refer to my shadow as a “friend” even metaphorically speaking. I was thinking celestial rune here along the lines of the sun being gone, and then my friend, whoever he is, as well… Alas!


It’s interesting how second trial is almost unanimously the most problematic for everyone here.  Nerd

     
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DCast - 02 April 2021 12:36 PM

It’s interesting how second trial is almost unanimously the most problematic for everyone here.  Nerd

None of us were going to be students at the Academy. Not a very wise bunch, apparently.  Meh  Wink

     

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About the second trial

I think when the riddle says friend it means fire itself. First tip is when it says when around me you are never alone. Around the fire is a common phrase. And what i understood with friend is someone who helps you. Like fire helps you in the night by giving you light and keeping you warm. So in that sense is your friend that when it is gone you are alone. The explanation about shadow i think goes too far, but then its another interpretation to a vague riddle.

     
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I agree that the riddles are the weakest part of the 3 trials.  They just weren’t well written, and even had several grammatical errors.  The third trial was, thankfully, very easy.

     

Carpe chocolate.

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@Tenebra: Outcry(Sublustrum) looks really cool, but that puzzle sounds like punishment.

The second trial was the first time the game crashed for me. The whole levers operation became a minor nightmare.

Then came the riddles.

It wasn’t all bad for me. It made me feel slightly better about the mystifying hints I came up with for my quiz.

I think I’m figuring it out. Maybe I’m just trying random combinations. Who can tell?

     
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I’ve been lucky, no crashes so far, nor glitches. I have reached the end point for this section.
I am now looking forward to playing this as my end of the week ‘treat’. The game is fun, and there is so much to do. So many interesting puzzles found on my travels through the Academy.

     

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