Without searching, I can already think of lots of things that fit the description. But what do I put? In what form? Is it more stuff like in step one? Or should I be trying words? How are the two sections connected? Is it one split in half, or two distinct wholes? The nature of the site inhibits guessing, but I'm trying.
You see my problem(s), haha. I can't even pose proper questions here.
The lack of other players at stage two actually makes me think I might have taken a wrong turn somewhere somehow. I knew stage 1 was too easy...
UPD: Too late! I tried searching and now I'm more confused then ever! :-P
EDIT: SOLVED
I was way overthinking EVERYTHING, haha. I'm a derp.
Was this puzzle really made 3 days ago and only two solvers so far? What am I missing? I'm not the sharpest bulb in the tool-shed (obviously; it took me half an hour to get through part 2). Based on past SG puzzle experience, there should be way more entries by now.
GUYS, THIS IS COMPLETELY SOLVABLE
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The current economic crisis of the United States is also solvable (and quite easily), but many people seem to have trouble with that, too.
At least you made it to the second step. I'm still stuck on the first.
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I'm not getting anywhere with this...
I've tried many things, all have lead nowhere, the best I get is some random characters in parts of the decoder.
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I think I am naturally bad at this - I've been at this for 2 hours now.
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Don't give up! It is completely solvable, all the information you need is there.
And I cannot stress how rare this game is. It's no joke.
In the entire history of SteamGifts, it has been given away fewer than 100 times. For public giveaways, it averages over 1,000 entries each time (people want it). Only 2% of users have this game (you probably don't have it).
It's rare. And so far the only entry is mine, so your odds are GOOD.
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I know it's solvable - I'm just having trouble getting from point a to point b on this, I've tried nearly everything, which means all I have left to do is the right thing - which I can't figure out.
I'm totally over thinking everything.
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Probably. Overthinking is my main problem as well...
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I am doing it as simple as possible, and nothing is working to my advantage.
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Take a break and come back to it. I looked at this puzzle yesterday and was instantly discouraged by the lack of entries, and no obvious path to take. I didn't even try.
Today, I looked at it again and got past step one in moments.
You've got time. DAYS, in fact. Don't keep beating your head against the brick wall, give your head a little time to recover and then come back. You WILL get it! I have confidence in you!
REMEMBER to come back though! Bookmark it, or leave the tab open, or something. You've already put in all that effort eliminating wrong paths, you can't stop now!
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The thing is, I've been at this for three hours now. I don't think I'll be getting it any time soon. I've read the comments page over 50 times, I've read and reread the original post, and nothing has come to mind.
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blarg...
All I've managed, so far, is a forward slash and seven characters, but even that part isn't right because eight are needed.
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All the groups, listed in order, give the slash with seven characters. Specifically, the first group results in the slash and first character. Were you wondering where it came from, or were you trying to straighten me out?
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-_- I did... Like 8 times... All I've got is a 7 digit code with a slash in front, like everyone else... I keep trying to work with that little bit but it doesn't work... I saw three distinct hints in total, and only two of them actually helped me...
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Okay, I've re-read the thread again, and again, and again... And I still can't find anything of use... Any hints that a 5 year old would understand (I'm not five but I feel like it since I don't know the answer)...
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I still don't have anything.... I don't know where to even go from here, I've gotten so many 8 digit codes, but none work.
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I have 22 unique 8 character codes.
I've been working on this for at least 14 hours of screen time.
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I have no idea how you even figured it out, I've been at this for longer then I should have been.
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Any chance of a hint as to which box to look inside for the answer? Not what to put the stuff into, just what it'll come out under.
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Basically BASE.
Including a sports,with a base? BASE BALL
The Balls Volume is 3.14
So I'm Guessing : 3.14... becasue the number is infinite and still finding new numbers,regardless it's never gonna end,like the numbers.
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Lol
�§w^�yÃ,°iÛ�^yaÅ�fX3r߶7õåÎ
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What we need to input is given to us. How we translate it is given to us. Some of us obviously figured it out because they got to step two. All I've managed, thus far is "/xxxxxxx" .... How many people have actually managed to solve both parts and enter the drawing?
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I got like 3-4 different codes, and none of which work on Its Too Hard, which is where I assume part two is... I wish he would give hints that are better than "All you need is on this page" and other random stuff that doesn't help me...
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I actually got a lot of information from those hidden clues, but it hasn't helped me get to the second part. Maybe I can make a deal with someone where I help them with the second part if they help me with the first part. P
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Well, I'm not giving up, yet, and if I can figure it out, I'll help you get it, too, God willing. I dunno, though.... Time is running out and I'm still stuck on only the first part. I think God is making a point about how it doesn't matter how smart you are if you lack the relevant information.
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I need a hint for the first part. I'm playing with the numbers in the BASEment, but I'm not getting anywhere.
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Yes, there are. I've read the entire thread at least twenty times. I could even rattle off all the things mentioned in the thread, but that obviously isn't enough to help me out because I'm missing something important. I'm guessing it's something that other people know because they've done these kinds of puzzles before, but I haven't so I'm stuck.
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Already have Prey, so I don't mind not getting a chance at it.
I would like an explanation of Part 1, though.
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The logic behind the puzzle is that it isn't a puzzle at all, it's just a way for him to give gifts to his friends while getting credit on steamgifts for giving it away. It's not too uncommon for people to do this. Considering the very first person that says "solved" is his friend, its pretty obvious.
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If it really is a case of someone trying to "game the system," that's pretty crap, alright. But it seems that what you say isn't actually the case when we look at the the people who (seemed to have) struggled with this puzzle and finally figured it out.
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Seeing as there are only 4 entries I am also a bit suspicious. While complexity of puzzles here varies widely, we do have veteran puzzle solvers who seem to get them all in the end. At the very least, I would like to see a solution to this supposed puzzle since the giveaway has now ended.
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Since it has been almost a full day since the giveaway ended, here is a completely walkthrough of the solution.
First, the OP wasn't trying to trick you, he/she just has bad handwriting. It's a 9, not a g, a 10 not a 1D, etc. Take the numbers for what they are. Ignore everything else; as OP hinted, the rest is just distraction.
This gives you the following:
05:09
01:05
01:14
11:15
06:10
15:04
Does something jump out at you about these numbers? What is the highest number here?
There are no numbers here greater than 15. If that doesn't immediately shout HEX, I don't know what would.
SO, put these numbers into the HEX box on the linked xlate tool. Remember, you are inputting hex digits, so 10 becomes a, 11 becomes b, 12 becomes c, etc. Ignore leading zeroes, as the OP also hinted.
This gives you: 59 15 1e bf 6a f4 (The spaces are not necessary and don't change the outcome).
Hit "Decode". OP basically spelled out that you're changing the BASE here. Look at the other bases (boxes). Is anything 5 or 8 characters long? Well, 8, because by now you should know from the other comments that you are looking for an itstoohard link code.
In fact, there is an 8-character code in another box, Base64 (BASE again): WRUev2r0
Use that as the itstoohard link code takes you to here the two-word answer to which should be obvious. In case it wasn't, it's a drum roll. Easy peasy, yes?
That gives you the 5 character giveaway code, here.
Perfectly logical and no tricks. I think most people were overthinking it.
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Damn, I tried everything I can think of for that two question puzzle, but didn't come up with drum roll.
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No tricks? Hardly.
The OP clearly stated, "Minutes are inseparable from hours." Inseparable, as in "together, without separation." That would mean your starting numbers are actually: 0509 0105 0114 1115 0610 1504. Plug this into Hex and you get...nothing useful. In this case, the OP's hint is total misdirection. That makes this puzzle more difficult.
The OP also said, "At the beginning... Zeros are not important." Only this is misleading because, at the beginning, the zeroes ARE important. One way to get from the original numbers to HEX would be to translate from ASCII and that will give you the correct HEX input, but it is only THEN that the zeroes are to be dropped. This bit of misdirection makes this puzzle more difficult.
Finally, the OP said (regarding manipulation of the digits), "As you see it but some digits have to write another way." If a person actually tried to apply this "clue," it would go against the previous two originally mentioned. Trying to follow this "clue," then, leads to confusion, which makes this puzzle more difficult.
Given all that I have mentioned, I am not surprised that most people failed to get past the first stage. (It took me all of two seconds to solve the second stage on my own.) Congratulations, however, to those few who managed to solve the puzzle despite the original posting.
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No, you interpreted "Minutes are inseparable from hours" to mean that your starting numbers are actually 0509 0105 0114 1115 0610 1504. Your interpretation is wrong. They are inseparable, but what you start with are the decimal representations of hex digits. The hex minutes ARE inseparable from the hex hours. See?
You said that one way to get from the original numbers to hex would be to translate from ASCII and that will give you the correct hex input. I honestly don't know what you are talking about here, as that does not seem possible at all, as the numbers are already hex written in decimal. I would very much like to know what process you used.
(Are you talking about alt-codes? As in, hold down alt, type the numbers, release, a character appears, look up that character on an ascii table, and write down its hex representation? (Rather than put the text in an ascii converter) If you're talking about alt-codes, that's just a roundabout way of going from decimal representation to hex, which you can do in your head (a = 10, b =11, etc). AND you don't have to type in the leading zeroes either. So probably not this then.)
The leading zeroes ARE not important. 05 is 5 is 5. 09 is 9 is 9. 10 is 10 is a. This isn't misleading. If it IS misleading, you did something wrong.
I don't know where the OP said "As you see it but some digits have to write another way" but it doesn't matter. All you needed was in the original post. If you misinterpreted the OP, no clue would have saved you anyway. I believe that the OP was trying to tell you that the starting numbers were already hex, but written a different way (decimal), and you should write a for 10 etc.
However, you're definitely NOT wrong that most people were tripped up by the first puzzle. I can see now how lucky I was to go down the right path the first try, because any other path would SEEM like potentially the right one, if I just tweaked things a little... and then I'd be lost for good. I only looked at the numbers and ignored the clues, and noticing that the numbers were already hex (but written in decimal) I think were two big boosts. Especially the not reading the clues part. I think the OP's clues may have hurt rather than helped, especially if you were already down a wrong path.
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Regarding "inseparable," I'm sorry but you're wrong. I could write a three-page long post on why, but let's skip that. It turned out that "inseparable" was the wrong word to use, I'm glad you figured out the puzzle despite that, and I think the problem with this part was that the OP does not know proper English. This is hardly surprising when you consider how many people are native speakers of English yet still can't speak it properly. That is why we commonly hear non-words like "irregardless" in conversation.
As for what I said, above, about getting hex numbers from ASCII, if you plug the numbers into ASCII as they are given, you will see those numbers written in HEX form in the HEX window. In effect, you have simplified the raw data into the HEX form you need to work the puzzle. I hope I was clear....
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"I think the problem with this part was that the OP does not know proper English." I believe English may not be the OP's native language, so yes. And yes, this does indeed appear to have caused problems. OP's English is still better than my Russian, so...
I see what you mean about the ASCII/DECIMAL to HEX, but leading zeroes are not important at either the decimal step or the hex step. If you drop them from the decimal box, you still get the proper hex result, and if you drop them from the hex box you get the proper base64 result. I see in the OP's Salt solution that the leading zeroes are still there in the decimal box, but they are NOT necessary. You can ALWAYS drop leading zeroes and still get to the end. I would chalk this up to more accidental misleading from the OP.
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At least you can buy a disk copy of Prey and have it activate on Steam. That's what I did :)
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"Rare game"? Donkey Kong Country? Conker's Bad Fur Day? No, wait, is it Goldeneye? It's Goldeneye isn't it? IS GOLDENEYE COMING TO STEAM??!! W00T!!
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That's all, folks!
todo
Minutes are inseparable from hours.
At the beginning... Zeros are not important.
tools
Salt
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