I never said it was "easy" it's just easy for zelgh-style puzzle, which still may mean it's pretty hard compared to your usual 2-min-googling puzzles :>
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bump for one user solving stage 2 and 3, only last stage remaining for you ;)
see - "I told it was not so hard :>
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I've tried a lot of things with that last stage, but nothing works so far.
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give it a little bit of thought, look closer, maybe if noone solves it for a 2-3 days I will drop some hints ;)
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I found a fox and a question mark... I think it's time for a break ^^"
I'm not even sure which stage I'm at
edit: It might be a rat, not a fox... and it doesn't actually matter, I guess...
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you may try it more or later on with fresh mind ;) you have whole week ;)
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hm, had another look at it now, no new ideas (I had a ton yesterday, but since you didn't do any of those things -> new puzzle ideas for me :P)
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thanks, and NOOOOOO!!!!! That's what I tried in stupid GIMP, filled random black parts with black, didn't work at all :( (there was a similar puzzle by Nordhbane a while ago, it worked in MS Paint, but I didn't think to try it here :()
And after a while in GIMP I got distracted by the fox...
And the decoding part is also very close to what I suspected :/
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well - better luck next time, at least some new experience :D: and lol for the fox - I finally understand what you meant - didn't see it ;p Poor imagination, as I'm very scientific mind I guess ;p
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then I hope you'll join my next, image-heavy puzzle ;D
btw I'm not mad about missing the GA (wouldn't have entered), just that I actually wasn't that far off but couldn't solve it
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glad you enjoyed it and not one of these ppl who get angry about not being able to solve a puzzle :>
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well, I do get angry/frustrated after a while, but just with myself, and not for long (especially when I find random hidden animals :3) - there are enough "easy" puzzles to try around here, so when it gets to that point I just move on and give unsolved ones another try later, unless I forget ;)
Edit: Forgot to say: Cool puzzle! :D And while I suspected the yes/no had a role to play and that it was an altered QR Code, I don't know if I would've solved that last step... would've at least taken me a while to mull it over subconsciously ^^
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A rat? I am still at stage 0, but if there is a rat later on, the GA will be Bad Rats for sure....
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I'm pretty sure it's gonna be only the game advertised ;)
that foxy rat is just something I noticed along the way (and it's not even there/intentional, I guess... too much puzzle xD)
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Affirmative, sir, I hope you'll lock in ban all cheaters and leakers :-D
And Happy Cake day, btw!
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Have a happy cakeday bump while I try to figure our what I'm missing??
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Sorry but I don't do puzzles. Happy cake day though :D
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it's cool ;) my puzzles may not be the best to start anyway :D:
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happy cake day! now it's time to check the puzzle!
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I checked it and you stay on BL :> you have ratio 1:5.25 or 1:6.5 if we consider value not quantity, and you are blacklisted based on your ratio.
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We have our first solver! Without any hints whatsoever and done it in only 3 hours! CONGRATS YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD!! :> Also so far only 6 other people reached last stage so keep on trying - this GA will probably have really high win-chances so it's totally worth a try :>
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Happy Cakeday. Is there a secret rule about being over 3 years old? Is someone coming to put me down now?
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you get +100% to win-chance - but it seems to be broken for you for whatever reason... :(
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Happy Cake day Zel! Coming back for good from theretirement maybe? Those whippersnappers should see what a hard puzzle looks like:p
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We'll see how this puzzle ends up like ;) So far I'm kinda dissapointed - I made it quite easy, at least considering my oldschool puzzle-level - heck 2 solvers in 6 hours without a single hint proves it's totally doable, but it seems like a lot of ppl nowadays the moment they hit the smallest wall just give up and leave the puzzle without even a comment - that is somewhat discouraging. Guess there's too many easier puzzles they get bothered with ;p
On the other hand, as an ultimate lvl 10 I no longer need to worry about GA getting enough entries to give me CV, so who knows ;P
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Sometimes there is no good place to leave a comment and not hint the road (Nr 11 is me, shame on me). Too tired now to play hide&seek :) And there is progress to be made in ZooZ Space Train puzzle - haven't seen this kind of puzzles in quite some time
There is something in what you say. In ZooZ puzzle, sudeku and the likes series finished 15 ppl, word soups series: 4. Can't say about other kinds, i've not finished yet
Also there is more specialized puzzles now ( like movie/anime trivia ) and ppl tend to stick to what they are good at.
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well, I said so in my old days - I think ppl on SG get the name "puzzles" wrong. Movie/music/anime trivia/quiz is trivia/quiz ;p And puzzle is puzzle. Puzzle should make your brain work in different way - it should 'puzzle' you. It should challenge your thought process not neccessary your knowledge ;) Trivia/Quiz you can solve even if you know jack shiet about the topic with good enough googling skillz, to solve the puzzle it will not be enough - you have to think, come up with different ideas, different solutiono, check if they work etc. Best examples I can think about are good old alamarjan's Quick Fix series. I never managed to solve any of them - but still, for me these were the best and most tru to their name actual Puzzles on SG (oh, and ofc my good old Fibonacci Challenge - to this day I believe it was the best one I ever made even tyhou noone managed to solve the last stage - and maybe because of that - because ppl, even if they didn't manage to solve it, in the end said "yeah, that makes sense, too bad I didn't think about it" :>)
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Fibo is from before my times here, when I got into puzzling you were slowly backing off. I'll take a look at it. For me best puzzles I've been solving were those from Blue Award. No long shots in the dark, no bruteforcing, no guessing. The Hypercuboy needed a lot of thinking. Or the one Jatan made some months ago, also very good
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Award had some great ideas, but his were not as hard as some oldschool masters ;) Hypercuboy I must have missed - prolly made his in my no-internet period ;p I didn't check jatan's for long time (retirement ;p) but I did love his old ones, especially complexity and level of preparation of his massive group puzzles - for me he was my 1st puzzle master and one of my favoritue puzzlers of all time :>
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Yup, best way do describe them is complex. Never had the time to solve it to the end (without group spoilers)
Ehh I'm gettin the feeling we start look like two gramps rambling about GOD (Good Old Days) :)
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I probably sound like I'm whining that I haven't solved this, but I'm actually happy learning for the next time. However, I would argue that "puzzling" as you define it is just another type of specialty knowledge. It's about what you've been exposed to, the tools in your tool belt, etc. The smartest person in the world, with no education or exposure to puzzles at all, wouldn't be able to solve what you consider simple puzzles, because they have no context. Even with "the guide" to act as a primer on the kinds of things puzzlers might do, there are literally an infinite number of possibilities, and every solution seems obvious and clear to the creator and those that happen to "get it". I don't see these kinds of puzzles as much different than the trivia quizzes that are obscured enough to make them not google-able - either way, it's catering to an audience that has the required knowledge. The people that tend to solve these kinds of puzzles have either been on the site for a long time and have had a lot of exposure, or they work or study in a related field that gives them specialty knowledge. There's nothing wrong with that, but let's not pretend that it's something else.
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I wasn't around for that one, but a quick read looks like it presents most of the knowledge you need if you're willing to put the time in to apply it, and it does so in an engaging way. It still assumes some familiarity with logic puzzles, and some technical concepts like QR codes, but it's fairly minimal. I like this kind of puzzle very much, as there's a motivation to proceed (beyond GAs, which just aren't the point for me) and a sense of progress as you unravel the layers and apply the tidbits of knowledge. I get frustrated with puzzles where you suddenly hit a brick wall with no context at all, and you either "get it" or you don't. It takes all of the fun out of it, which is when I abandon the puzzle and go find something more interesting to do with my time. That's where I'm at with this puzzle even after (the first?) ITH...I've tried everything I know and even invented some things to no avail, there's no context, and I don't get it - moving on. :)
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what kind of exposure do you need? for one of the solvers for this puzzle it was his 1st puzzle ever to be solved - so he was not exposed to any mysterious puzzle ways in the past. Also you think you need knowing my or someone else puzzles before you're able to solve this one? You don't but if you really think you do - you have google, you can search out any puzzle you feel like you may need - all old topics are still here and avaiable. And what specialty knowledge do ppl need in this puzzle? I don't know any studies that may be related to this.
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Not knowing the solution, I obviously can't answer that one. :)
I'm not trying to attack you or your puzzle, really! I absolutely appreciate people that make puzzles, even when I can't solve them. It's one of my favorite things about this site really. I just think maybe you've been here so long that you assume a lot. I've run into so many roadblocks with puzzles on here, of all different kinds. Sometimes I had the right idea, but "the tool" I needed was the 20th one I could have found and I stopped at 19 - well, that tool got added to my tool belt for the next time. Sometimes it was a new technical or logical concept that I had never seen before and once I'd learned it, I was able to apply it in the future. In any case, yes, puzzle-solving skills are a specialty knowledge in the sense that they're not innate or common knowledge. Also, you don't have to learn those skills on SG, as I have been solving puzzles long before I found this site - so a "1st time solver" here doesn't really mean that much.
Regardless, you seem to be a bit upset that I'm arguing with you, so I'll stop. I didn't want to frustrate you or suggest that you've done anything wrong, I was just sharing a different perspective on things.
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OK, thanks. Pretty insane...I noticed an area of the QR image that was weird at one point, but had absolutely no idea what to do with it - I have very little experience with image editors, and the 20 pixels/20 questions thing...I would have had to have confidence in the fact that it was even a QR image and not just a red herring for me to start making those kinds of connections. After trying every QR reader on the internet, I was pretty much worn out. :P
Anyways, interesting puzzle, if a bit much for me this time around. :)
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Hard? Surely, But insane? Nah - after all there were people capable of solving it ;p wanna seen insane puzzle? look at this: http://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/lKh3s/wtf-is-wrong-with-this-puzzle-giveaway-inside-p-solution-posted ;p
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Varying degrees of insanity :P
People that have been exposed to the concepts used (I see you used QR image modification before, for example) would certainly have an easier time of it, which is why I try to follow every puzzle I can, even if I don't solve it. I'm just not tenacious enough to keep digging for very long when the tools and methods I know don't work...I like puzzles, but I can't sink that much time into them.
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yup - but it was different type of QR modification - that's one, 2nd anyone could guess it (proven by puzzle being solve by one 1st timer who never solved any SG puzzle before) and finally - QR codes were covered in guide as well as image modification and how to spot it :>
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Happy cake day :)
I'm going on a roadtrip so I don't think I'll get to solve this, but enjoy feeling like an evil mastermind santa...
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Happy Cake Day to Me! :D:
I just realized it's been 3 years I'm hanging around with you bastards - if it's not opportunity good enough to call it quits on my puzzle retirement I don't know what is :D: Anyway - prepared a little puzzle for ya - I'm very rusty in puzzle-making (been over a year since I prepared a proper one) so zelgh-style considered this one should be super-duper-easy. So GL all :>
Game to Win: Legend of Grimrock 2
Level Requirement: Lvl 1+
Special Requirements: All SG Wins activated on your account, not being on my Blacklist.
Time: You have 1 week.
All puzzle cheaters / GA leakers gonna be blacklisted as well as immediatelly reported to support. No sharing hints / ideas in this topic nor anywhere.
Oh and if you want to check if you are Blacklisted or not, you may do so here.
SOLUTION
9ppl managed to solve the puzzle with just 5 entering GA. Fastest solver managed to do so in a little bit more than 2 hours since puzzle got posted, Last solver solved it just 16 hours before GA ended. To all the solvers - I salute you and am impressed by your puzzling skillz :>
Now to the main course :>
Actual first stage of the puzzle was "Blacklist Check GiveAway" posted in OP.
A the start of GA Description there was a hidden link You may see on this image.
Hidden link http://www.itstoohard.com/puzzle/7bqxnt?? was missing 2 letters ??.
Hint to these two missing letters was cake picture in GA description. The cake represented New York's Empire State Building, it was also posisble to reverse google search the image and find it's listed as NY cake. Pretty obvious - 2 missing letters were NY and full ITH link was http://www.itstoohard.com/puzzle/7bqxntNY
At ITH stage you were presented with 20 questions in yes/no form. Full ITH solution can be viewed here.
After solving ITH you were presented with QR Code, but sadly the code was broken and wasn't working :(
By image editing of your choice (you could do so with changing color's pallete, saturation and other stuff in Photoshot/Gimp, but also could use simply probe tool, or filling tool from MS Paint) you could notice that some of "pixels" on QR code weren't in fact pure black. Black color has hex value of #000000 and some pixels had color value of #010101. Very similar but not the same :D: To be exact there was EXACTLY 20 altered pixels.
You can view all 20 "fake" pixels on this image.
Now notice this. There are 20 fake pixels in QR code. There are also 20 questions on ITH. Even more - all answers are in yes/no format, so either true or false. Does it ring the bell? It's just like binary or Boolean data type or however you want to call it ;)
And yes - eqach question corresponded to a single pixel. If Answerr was Yes (True/1) the pixel should be black, if answer was no (False/0) the pixel should be white. Proper colors/values of pixels can be seen on this image. Red pixels represent ones that should be black, while green pixels represent ones that should be white.
Original non-altered QR you would get at the end would look like this image.
Decoding this QR would give you 5 letter code qzodt which was GA code for main GA: http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/qzodt/legend-of-grimrock-2 :>
NEWS:
7th solver so far :>
We have a grand total of 6th solvers so far, but only 4 entries - so still great win-chances! Gogo solve t3h puzzle! :>
We have 2 more solvers - plus one of them is a total newbie - it's his 1st puzzle solved! :> That meas that no matter if you're a veteran or a fresh blood - this puzzle is for everyone! :>
We have our 2nd solver - took him 6 hours but again - without any hints! See? It's totally doable so gogogo - I want me CV so at least 3 peeps more ;p
We have our first solver! Without any hints whatsoever and done it in only 3 hours! CONGRATS YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD!! :> Also so far only 6 other people reached last stage so keep on trying - this GA will probably have really high win-chances so it's totally worth a try :>
HINTS:
Only hint you need
(and a little bit of brain-work ;>)
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