== GUIDE ==
While I really wanted this to be a fun puzzle with lots of surprises, my paranoia towards brute-forcing and cipher detection resulted in severe over-complication. I'm going to try to salvage this, so please bear with me. If this still isn't enough, I will keep trying to make this easier. Firstly, use https://www.dcode.fr/en, if you haven’t already found it.
The clue most people have found is structured like this:
X...;Y...;Z...
The purpose of these three clauses is to direct you towards three trains:
- How to decode Puzzle 1
- How to decode Puzzle 2
- How to find Puzzle 3
In order to solve these puzzles, you will need:
- The primary recommendations
- The secondary recommendations and the first train
- Both trains
As mentioned before, the steps go as follows:
- Decryption Methods A, B
- Decryption Method C, Assembly, Decryption Methods D, B
- No decryption
Here are some things to keep in mind:
- Decryption A: Number in its name
- Decryption B: Easiest method, doesn’t require a tool
- Decryption C: Number in its name, related to A
- Decryption D: Number in its name, but doesn’t have its own dedicated dcode page, also requires multiple settings
- Missing Numbers: Tied to the post, there’s a pattern to find to reveal the rest
- Results of Decryption: The decryption will not give you the giveaway ID or parts of it, it will instead instruct you how to find them. If you follow them correctly, you should be able to find a word, which will be shown visually and read aloud to you.
The post now more explicitly highlights clues leading to Decryption A and C and how to use the instructions for Puzzle 1. Everything said in the hints should still be true, but I want this to be more comprehensive and helpful, since the hints have become kind of cluttered. I’m hoping for 12-20 solvers. That might seem like a lot, but I’m grateful to anyone who continues working at this. I will continue answering questions in the comments.
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Don’t focus on the secondary clues until you’ve solved the primary ones.
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One key can unlock five locks if you turn it around, but only one door. Once unlocked, you will only have seconds to find the next clues, but that is all the time you’ll need.
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You can unlock another door by cutting the key in half before turning it around, but it can only unlock one five-part lock, assembly required. Before assembling, note that they’re currently in the right place, but not in the right position.
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Which console do you think the NPC is playing in Zelda II? It wasn’t released at the time, but…
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I'll also add that there's nothing wrong about the number itself, but I guess you could say it's 404 until you find it. Please don't give up, I'll use as many hints to fix this fatal system as I can.
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There are two cryptographic steps to deciphering the first puzzle, and three cryptographic steps to deciphering the second. The “assembly” for the second puzzle occurs between the first and second steps.
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The last cryptographic step in each puzzle is the same process, an extremely simple one.
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The fully decrypted clues have no spaces and a bit of missing context, so you won't be able to immediately tell you've got a message. Look for similar patterns and signs while decoding.
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An apology to everyone who's been tearing their hair out, I was really paranoid about people skipping steps and using brute force, so I ended up making this puzzle way too hard. I've changed five things here and one thing on the other page you've seen.
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Q: https://www.steamgifts.com/go/comment/hWQL2C8
A: Everything you need is right here.
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Q: https://www.steamgifts.com/go/comment/cAgyusz
A: I don't know any coding languages.
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Every cryptographic method used is associated with a number, except for the simplest one.
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Q: https://www.steamgifts.com/go/comment/FMOs90z
A: It's hiding part of the sequence. Match the numbers up with something in the discussion post to find the rest.
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Q: https://www.steamgifts.com/go/comment/eQllvIb
A: That's the plan. Hints, simplification, etc. I've made another edit to the post to try and guide people in the right direction. I've also unspoilered all of the hints, since it's pretty clear no one is going to get it without them.
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Things that are NOT hints:
- That thing about emulation that used to be spoilered
- "Begone!"
- The prose of the main post.
- Video titles, comments, and descriptions.
- My running joke of saying there are no giveaways.
These things aren't helpful, but I'm marking them down because there are very tiny parts of them that are relevant for solving the puzzle. Just don't focus on them broadly.
I was using too broad a definition. Speaking strictly, none of these things as they should be commonly understood are helpful. Please ignore them.
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Q: https://www.steamgifts.com/go/comment/2rIocXz
A: Unsure about the wording of the first part of the question, but length is a numerical value.
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Q: https://www.steamgifts.com/go/comment/jeStGpd
A: It's not an exact equation, it functions similarly, but it represents the decoding steps.
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Q: https://www.steamgifts.com/go/comment/OQ4Rl2W
A: "Length" is a numeral. I'm not sure what you mean by "key," as it sounds different from the definition I was using, which was related to the ciphers.
I'm very sorry for the state of this puzzle event, I used imprecise terminology because I didn't want to lay the steps out for everyone, and covered tracks wherever possible to prevent brute-forcing, but it's clearly backfired.
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You aren't on the wrong track if you are being told "wrong." You are not the miscalculation in this equation.
(This was formerly the first hint. I added it beneath to put the guide on top.)
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I found a lot of stuff, but not quite sure what to make of any of it.
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I see a lot of things too but I'm honestly too lazy to try to figure out what to do with all of it.
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Been to all the videos, checked the descriptions and recent comments, tried the source code here and have tried to decipher any poetry in the text here.
Nothing! And I have 29 reasons not to believe that...
Long videos though with lots of engagement! I'm maybe spend some time on them when I have it ;)
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Have a bump... I have no clue what to do here other than bump
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Don't think I've ever seen a cipher like the one I found. This might take a while.
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I stared at gibberish long enough for today, will stare tomorrow. Bump!
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12 hours and 0 entries in the giveaways => no way I will ever figuring this out.
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There are no giveaways.
...also, if there were, I definitely wouldn't give any...
...hints sometime soon.
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Interesting... so there's a giveaway link somewhere here to over a dozen giveaways, but so far literally NO ONE has figured it out.
Which is awfully odd, as there are some great codebreakers here on SG...
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I followed the rule of begone but now i'm back... and still confused
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Gonna bookmark and come back when there's more hints lol
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I may be wrong about being wrong while I was being gone but now I'm a bit more considerate of Minesweeper (Something I've recently shown I'm a fan of here) but beyond the YouTube links being needlessly long I still can't see anything...
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Bump for Ace Attorney mention. Edgeworth is my husband's favorite, and I always liked von Karma. We're currently playing Ace Attorney Chronicles on Switch.
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Might be a case of "guess what number I'm thinking of right now" but I can't figure out how to even begin even with the hints.
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Tried a couple new ideas, double checked the source code for anything hidden, and i'm still lost..
But on the plus side, not a single one of the pro code breakers here on SG have yet to figure it out either, so i dont feel so bad :p
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Looking for giveaways? Too bad! Instead, have some video recommendations.
I’ve got five videos from five YouTubers with under one million subscribers. These are mostly video essays, feature-length stuff you can’t burn through on a lunch break. To keep them topical, they are all about video games, though only one of them is specific to PC gaming and two-and-a-half are about games that can’t be played on PC legally except by ripping and emulating roms from your own legally purchased console games, which is the "only method I recommend..."
A Brief Review of Pokémon Generations 1-5, by KingK
To ease us in, we have a sort-of popular gaming YouTuber with a six-figure subscriber count. Okay, I say “ease us in,” but the video’s five hours long. Here me out. KingK’s style is very relaxed but methodical. I especially love his Zelda and Sonic videos, but I went with his Pokémon retrospectives because he’s planning to release his Gen 7 retrospective within the next few weeks or so. You could watch the playlist of the original videos for this reason, as it includes two videos not in the compilation covering Gen 6 and the games for N64 and GameCube, though the compilation video has all of the sponsor segments cut out. I sort of wanted to be controversial and recommend KingK’s review of Link to the Past, because I think that video’s backlash was 90% unwarranted, but whatever. Go watch them all if you like.
The Appeal Of Older Graphics, by Internet Pitstop
I was originally trying to keep this recommendation list majority-zero-play-button, but I thought it was a bit too heavy and dry, so I switched in this guy. His whole aesthetic is relaxing, just chilling in a greenscreen. Looking at pretty graphics and animation. The graphics video is a feast for the eyes. I’m also going to break my game-only rule to recommend his video about Yu-Gi-Oh. Well, I guess technically it is a game… whatever.
Ocarina of Time is the Mayonnaise of Video Games by i am error
i am error has such a gentle yet emotional style that gets me kind of weepy sometimes, and that’s a feat. In addition to her big Ocarina of Time video, she’s also made an even bigger Super Mario 64 video. I also want to shout out her Minesweeper trilogy (the first one’s unlisted, see her playlists), and her video on “the pain of losing friends,” which hit like a freight train.
Franziska von Karma: Profoundly Misunderstood [Analysis & Retrospective] by Wendy Rocket
This one is purely a personal pick that I don’t expect everyone to see the same way as I do. It’s a defense of one mid-tier popular character from a mid-tier popular game series, it’s delivered via rantsona, I get it, I don’t care, IT JUST SPEAKS TO ME! But give it a chance anyways, especially if you like Ace Attorney, and especially especially if you just thought of Franziska von Karma as the black sheep between Edgeworth and Godot. Also, Wendy has a less intense video about Manfred von Karma. I’m mostly mentioning it because it’s her only other scripted video, but it's still good, I swear!
Exploring Dead Games by Redlyne
Finally, a bookend of another six-figure sub guy who is well on his way now that his videos are pulling seven-figure views pretty consistently. This recommendation is kind of the dessert. No essay or persuasive point, just entertaining content. I’ve seen all three of these videos thus far, they’re all I’ve watched, but I’m looking forward to watching his 2-hour flash game video. Skimming through it brought back a lot of memories.
I hope you enjoy the videos!
…
...why are you still here? There are no giveaways! Never mind the level requirement and expiry date in the title, go watch the videos and move on with your life!
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