I think I have seen all the tablets and the shortcuts, but I don’t think I’m done with them. There was tablet room with a broken seal in it so I’ll probably be back there. I have the improved rod, but I don’t know exactly what it does for me yet. I understand my goal is eliminating the remains of the traitors (I think?), and I would assume that goes in some way similarly to when I killed Tail.
Anyway, I’m out of immediate goals. After seeing the tablet rooms and the shortcuts, I’m not sure what to go after next. Would someone mind pointing me in the right direction?
Two runs down! Bit of a waste, but at least I breezed through it. Started on my third. Spoilers:
I yelled for real when I figured out what the wings do. Really wish I had these on my second run! Also—don’t actually tell me—but why did I just find some bananas lmao
Edit: COOL BOSS FIGHT
Edit 2: I didn’t specify which boss fight cuz I didn’t know til I just encountered another that the game has more than one boss fight lol. Wild!!!
@MnemogenicDo Lillie ending (hard mode) if you haven’t already -> do what unlocks after that -> get the upgraded staff with either Gray or Lillie (I recommend Gray because of the easier puzzles) then get to 225 and recreate the brand you wouldn’t have been able to without the new staff. Everything else should come naturally after that!
@JoJoestar Thank you! I had figured out the “brand you can only draw with the upgraded staff” thanks to Tracy’s hint, but I couldn’t seem to get anything out of that room besides a warp back and a very intense boulder. I didn’t know it was time for hard mode, thanks!
Fourth run spoilers: I started on hard mode last night and I just noticed I no longer have the Steam achievement. Is that even possible??? Or is Steam acting up?? Cuz it makes narrative sense and it seems extremely on-brand for this game to RESCIND an achievement, something I didn’t think Steam games could do lmao
Hit a couple snags in my playthrough, very nearly broke the hint barrier. Mid-game spoilers ahead!!
So I kind-of-accidentally aborted my hard mode run thirty floors in cuz I started hating the puzzles again. My heart sank when it booted me to the language selection screen, but unlocking the special brands made me real glad I took that risk. Now I’m just doing cleanup as Gray, starting with the stone tablets I ignored. Took me two whole hours to figure out the snake brand—kinda wish I just looked it up! Figuring out what to do was easy enough, but once I had the “pieces” assembled I pulled up a picture of the broken tablet and just started guessing at their placements. Excited to get back to playing the videogame now, and I hope to God I won’t have to open Photoshop again for at least a few more hours lmao.
I got through through the Lillie playthrough. I skipped as much as I could, but even with all the burdens, some of those puzzles are pretty tough! I think at the end where we’re at with them is that Lillie is going to be mom to her own mom. That’s cool, I hope that works out for them. But forget that, now I’m Cif! I’m excited to be Cif. Cif seems cool
Edit: I am truly stunned that now, 45 hours into my playthrough, they have introduced new rules for the tile puzzles.
With apologies for turning this thread into my playthrough blog:
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Okay, I think I might just about be there. I've done the Cif playthrough. Cif and Bee are very cute and I'm happy for them. Then I went back, did the stuff, got the rod, drew the special brand, finally figured out what that boulder was talking about, and ended up at the DIS place. I have to say, the gauntlet of puzzles there was too much for me. I looked at the Very Helpful Playthrough for almost every puzzle in the last two-thirds.
But I made it! I got past Bee and met Mon at the bottom of the bottom, and now I’m fighting Cif, who feels like the big boss. This seems like the one. I know there’s more in the game, because I’m only at 19/27 on the playlist, but this feels like it should be the last big thing. Cif is a kind of ultra-difficult boss fight that, after a gauntlet of the hardest puzzles in the games, I really wish was a little less ultra-difficult. I wasn’t looking to spend a bunch of time grinding out a boss fight.
You’re in luck, there’s a kind of cheaty way out of it that I’ll leave in the next spoiler if you want to throw in the towel on that fight, I definitely did.
@TracyDMcGrathDo you mean the four eyed statues? Those only take me back to floor 001, but they don’t reverse voiding with Cif so I still can’t die. Sorry if I’m still missing something.
The actual ending I think I might be done spoilers:
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Well, the problem solved itself because I was able to do what I needed to as Cif, and now I think I've seen the for real final ending. The one where you input the System Erasure brand and talk to an avatar of the developer. If this is the end, I sure have a lot to ruminate on. I know there are still some little secrets here and there that I haven't seen, but I think I'm content with where I am.
I think it’ll be awhile before I have some good coherent thoughts about this game, but it was an extremely memorable experience. It’s probably obvious that I don’t play too many puzzle-y games, but I’m glad I put the effort in for this one. I’m also extremely glad for the help; I would not have made it without it.
However, one thing is bugging me. I never figured out what the picross were for. What is their deal?
@Mnemogenic Worth noting there’s one last big thing to unlock if you fall into the black hole in the dev room, take the void stairs, and get the rod again