Any advice for the pillar puzzles?

[ZitMeatloaf]

I'm looking for some general advice for solving the pillar puzzles at the end of the challenge. In over a hundred attempts at the challenge, I've made it to the pillar room maybe 20 times. A few times I've gotten lucky and solved one of the pillars (at which point my anxiety level REALLY shoots up), but never both.

 

Anybody have some advice for how to visualize the puzzles better? I seem to have a hard time seeing the puzzle layouts on the pillars. I suppose I could prepare some graphs ahead of time and spend a few moments making a very rough sketch, but I feel like that would take more time than I have remaining by the time I reach the pillars.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, although I realize it may be difficult to provide it. In the meantime I guess I'll just keep trying...

[Sir_Bee]

I would love to be able to provide you advice that will help you through this puzzle, but honestly, I cannot think of anything good.  I guess the only thing that I can say is don't wait around while you look for the proper path, always try moving and you just might happen upon something that works.  I found that I would be moving in a direction while actually trying to look at something else, and often I would end up going the right way and only realizing it part way through.  This time trial is tough, and as you practice, you will start to get better at seeing the solutions, and recognizing certain patterns.  I wish you the best of luck completing this challenge.

[ZitMeatloaf]

Well lo and behold, last night I finally solved both puzzles and completed the challenge. What a bizarre combination of exhilaration and relief!

 

Thank you for the encouragement, Sir_Bee. I'm glad I kept at it!

 

If anybody else is struggling with the pillars, the best anecdotal advice I can offer from my own experience is:

1. Patience and persistence. It really is a matter of practice makes perfect and try, try again. I probably had 150 attempts before I finally completed the challenge. It also didn't hurt that I lucked into some easier puzzles in my successful run. The more attempts you make, the more chances you'll have of getting a fortunate string of easy-ish puzzles (easier than the puzzles normally are, anyway).

2. I found these videos from RbdJellyfish to be very useful. He has other videos breaking down every other portion of the challenge as well. Be sure to check them out if you're having difficultly with a particular area.

 

Edited March 14, 2019 by ZitMeatloaf

[Sir_Bee]

On 3/14/2019 at 9:28 AM, ZitMeatloaf said:

Well lo and behold, last night I finally solved both puzzles and completed the challenge. What a bizarre combination of exhilaration and relief!

 

Thank you for the encouragement, Sir_Bee. I'm glad I kept at it!

 

If anybody else is struggling with the pillars, the best anecdotal advice I can offer from my own experience is:

1. Patience and persistence. It really is a matter of practice makes perfect and try, try again. I probably had 150 attempts before I finally completed the challenge. It also didn't hurt that I lucked into some easier puzzles in my successful run. The more attempts you make, the more chances you'll have of getting a fortunate string of easy-ish puzzles (easier than the puzzles normally are, anyway).

2. I found these videos from RbdJellyfish to be very useful. He has other videos breaking down every other portion of the challenge as well. Be sure to check them out if you're having difficultly with a particular area.

 

 

Congratulations   I am glad you got through it.

[spawn024]

For anyone else looking for help, here's some advice from someone who got the trophy after about 8 hours of trying.  Don't give up.  It was a gradual process, but I noticed that I was getting better at all the puzzles the more I tried.

 

Specifically for the pillar puzzles, don't think to much, move the line and try to make something happen.  The first pillar isn't too hard. I reached the pillar room about 12 times in the 8 hours and completed the first pillar on all but two attempts.  Just pick a color and try to block in all the like colored squares you see as the line rotates around the pillar.  If you get near the exit point and think you've blocked all the same colored squares you saw, hit the exit up.  More often than not, I finished the pillar doing this.  If it fails, use the same strategy, but make sure to try something a little different.  Take a slightly different path, run to the top and bottom more often (to help lock shapes in, or try blocking in the other color.  I was never sure if all the squares were blocked in, but more often than not they were.

 

The second pillar is much trickier and will require more luck.  However my strategy was more or less the same.  Start collecting every dot you see as the line moves around the pillar.  If you get near the exit point and haven't seen any untouched dots, go for the exit.  This didn't work as well for me as it did on the first pillar.  When I finally got the trophy I was on my fourth path variation.  On an earlier attempt I had time to try six different paths on the pillar and all failed.  This one requires some luck.  It's hard to know exactly what the other line is doing and if it grabbed all the dots on its side of the pillar.  But, if you're close to the exit and you haven't seen any missed dots, hit that exit up.  When I finally got it, I wasn't sure I had all the dots, but I knew I had picked up every dot I saw with my line.  If you don't get the finish, always try to vary your path more.  Go right instead of left, go right then come back left.  Grab every dot you see and vary your path each time.

 

Both pillars require luck but, most importantly hit up the exit if you're near it and you think you might have it.  Don't waste time thinking.  React to what you see and go for the exit.  The faster you run through and try to block out/pick up everything, the more chances you'll have to get it right.

 

Most importantly, don't give up.  The more you try the more you'll start instantly recognizing patterns on some of the other puzzles which will save you lots of time.  It got to the point when I saw certain pairs of tetris shapes, I knew exactly how to best combine them.  When I did the three puzzles with two fake puzzles, I often knew instantly which one was correct.  When I first started I had to think how to solve several of the puzzles.  Near the end I was reacting more than thinking and recognizing familiar patterns from previous attempts.

 

I have one piece of advice for the maze also.  You can waste a lot of time stumbling around in there.  When you do the 4th puzzle, the map of the maze, take a picture of it with your cell phone every time you do the puzzles.  Having a picture of the maze with puzzle locations and path through will definitely save you seconds, perhaps minutes.

 

You need every extra second for those pillars.  i probably lost 5-10 seconds taking the picture and then looking at it while going through the maze.  However when I tried the maze without a picture, I was losing a lot more than 10 seconds.

[Fish613]

yeah,my advice WOULD HAVE been to play the game correctly without a walkthrough. You all look up the puzzle solutions just to get some quick trophies without actually learning anything in the game... now you're stuck on that last trophy. I laugh at you all. Took me about 10 tries to complete that challenge for the trophy (AFTER the patch that fixed the loophole/work around), because I knew what i was doing.

 

Sorry to be so condescending, but it annoys me when people take short cuts and cheat, then get stuck and beg for help from others.  

[Hemiak]

You could always backtrack to the area where these puzzles occur and practice them again. Might help a little.