To rid myself of these miserable bundle keys, and to commemorate the upcoming release of Dark Souls II...

A Dark Souls Deprived Class + Demon's Great Hammer Bundle Junk + Dark Souls II Puzzle! Begin here.

Giveaways have ended, congatulations to the lucky winners! Special congratulations to chour who was the only person to find the Dark Souls II giveaway. Sigh. :)


Solutions:

One problem I've had with making puzzles - I'm just not creative enough. And I don't know anything about image manipulation, or audio, or steganography, or all the more obscure things I've never even noticed were puzzles at all.

So when I make a puzzle, it's always the same. A trail of bundle junk with something good at the finish line - with everything hidden behind tedious arithmetic/hidden ascii codes/trolling/etc. So I knew if I made another giveaway, it would be made the same way as before, and solved in the same way as before, by the same people as before. :)

Now, everyone has always worked hard and definitely earned their prizes, but wouldn't it be nice to reward someone different, just this once? :) Nobody enjoys giving away a favourite game, only to see 0.0 hours played because the winner likes puzzles and never wanted the game in the first place. :)

So, when I decided to give away Dark Souls II, I wanted it to go to someone who would actually play the game. And who would play Dark Souls II? Why, people who played Dark Souls, of course! So: a series of Dark Souls trivia questions, with a final game-related logic puzzle at the end. Ideally, even if someone could google the trivia answers they would need some actual playing time to solve the real puzzle.

The first two questions were enough to chase away the laziest google users, but keep most Dark Souls fans going. Of the 54 people who reached Part C, 47 were still in the hunt at Part K. Apparently most Dark Souls players could at least find the real puzzle. :)

Part A solutions
Part B solutions
Part C solutions
Part D solutions
Part E solutions
Part F solutions
Part G solutions
Part H solutions
Part I solutions
Part J solutions


Part K i.e. the real puzzle:

In what order were the videos recorded?

For example, if you think they were recorded in the order shown, you would answer:

A B C D E F G H I J

But if you think they were recorded in the exact opposite order, you would answer:

J I H G F E D C B A

Nope, it's neither of those. Good luck!


Yes, now you need to watch the videos. Sorry! :)

Everything was done in one "NG" Deprived Class playthrough, with no friends/invaders dropping presents. The starting gift was unmentioned but hinted at in the very first puzzle. Remember the question about shortcuts? Yes, Master Key.

For non-Dark Souls players, this means I don't have any loot from a previous playthrough, or dropped by another player. The Master Key allows you to open various shortcuts in the game world, to reach areas before you could otherwise get there. Also makes the puzzle brute-force proof. :)

As you watch the videos, notice my character is wearing different armour in each one. And other than wearing the Pyromancer set in part of Blighttown, the armour seems stupidly chosen. Why go through Lower Undead Burg with no poise? Why try to ambush a Crystal Lizard with heavy, noisy armour? That's a hint. :)

And another hint from the videos: umm, two in Lower Undead Burg? Gaping Dragon? Two in Blighttown? Two in Darkroot Basin? Valley of Drakes? The Catacombs? Why not some variety? No Undead Parish, Ash Lake, Sen's Fortress, Lost Izalith? No Anor Londo? Everyone makes a video in Anor Londo!

Got it now?

For the benefit of google users: when you create a character in Dark Souls you choose a class, which determines your starting equipment. But as you progress through the game you can obtain other equipment. In fact, you can find the starting armour for all the classes as loot on various corpses in the game world - so if you like a different set, wear it! :)

So the key to the puzzle: the videos were made near the starting armour sets for each class. As you watch the videos, you can spot the white glow from a set of armour, before I've picked it up. And while I'm near that set, fighting something, running around, dying, or otherwise trying to distract you - I'm wearing a different set of armour.

Therefore: each video proves I picked up the set I'm wearing before I picked up the set on the corpse. So a video of me walking past the Knight set was made before a video of me wearing the Knight set.

Video "A" shows me wearing the Deprived set, i.e. nothing. :)

Now, a clever puzzle maker would have made only video "A" in NG+, and have the souls shown for killing things + the Stamina bar be the clue that video "A" was actually the last one recorded - but I didn't think of it until I started writing this explanation. :)

Video "B" shows me wearing the Sorcerer set, dying in Lower Undead Burg. Before I die, you see in an Undead Assassin ambush room the glow of the Thief set I haven't picked up yet. So Sorcerer comes before Thief.

Video "C" shows me wearing the Hunter set, talking to Griggs of Vinheim and dying to Torch Hollows. On the ground next to Griggs is the the Sorcerer set. So Hunter comes before Sorcerer.

Video "D" shows me wearing the Thief set, fighting Gaping Dragon, near the Warrior set. So Thief comes before Warrior.

Video "E" shows me wearing the Pyromancer set, trying to get the Wanderer set on-screen before something kills me. :) So Pyromancer comes before Wanderer.

Video "F" shows me wearing the Bandit set, barely surviving against a mighty Giant Leech. :) Off in the distance you can see the white glow from the Pyromancer set. Actually, I almost went over on autopilot to grab it before I remembered I was making a video and clumsily turned away. :) So Bandit comes before Pyromancer.

Video "G" shows me wearing the Knight set, failing to hit a Crystal Lizard before he disappears. Far below on a ledge is the glow of the Hunter set. So Knight comes before Hunter.

Video "H" shows me wearing the Wanderer set, fighting the Hydra, and practically standing on the Knight set. So Wanderer comes before Knight.

Video "I" shows me wearing the Deprived / Skeleton Man set :) - running past the Bandit set and grabbing the Red Tearstone Ring. Wait a minute - Deprived set? That's just being naked. What does that prove? Fortunately with all the other information there's only one place this video can fit. :)

Video "J" shows me wearing the Warrior Set, jumping down near the Cleric set, which I didn't wear. Sorry, ran out of bundle keys! :) So Warrior comes before Cleric.

Let's write all this down, and see if that gives us anything.

Video "A" of me fighting the Asylum demon at the start of the game is the first video.
Video "B" of me wearing the Sorcerer set must come before Video "D" of me wearing the Thief set.
Video "C" of me wearing the Hunter set must come before Video "B" of me wearing the Sorcerer set.
Video "D" of me wearing the Thief set must come before Video "J" of me wearing the Warrior set.
Video "E" of me wearing the Pyromancer set must come before Video "H" of me wearing the Wanderer set.
Video "F" of me wearing the Bandit set must come before Video "E" of me wearing the Pyromancer set.
Video "G" of me wearing the Knight set must come before Video "C" of me wearing the Hunter set.
Video "H" of me wearing the Wanderer set must come before Video "G" of me wearing the Knight set.
Video "I" of me wearing the Deprived set must come before Video "F" of me wearing the Bandit set.
Video "J" of me wearing the Warrior set must come before Video "Sorry, ran out of bundle junk" of me wearing the Cleric set. You will have to imagine me wearing it in Anor Londo, parrying Dragonslayer Arrows, ignoring the bonfire and finally beating Ornstein and Smough without taking a single scratch. Sorry, I guess Youtube deleted it for excessive awesomeness.

Rearranging these pieces (hooray! the solution!) gives "A I F E H G C B D J" - and the grand prize! Zombie Shooter 2! Woohoo! :)


Wait, another piece of bundle garbage? Where's the good stuff? This wasn't all a big troll, was it? The only visible hint is in the description for giveaway K: "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated? You might want to watch the videos again. :)"

Well, I may simply have been quoting Johnny Rotten, but if you ever saw this, you would have realised there was one more step. If not, you were probably doomed because there wasn't a hint for this next part anywhere. Sorry! :)

Yes, there was one more giveaway. Somehow, getting the videos in the correct order wasn't the final step. And since the prize was one of those expensive games, there were no hints. If you wanted the good stuff, you had to earn it!

I suspect victims of my KJV troll party would have guessed what was coming, but perhaps I chased them off with all the Dark Souls nonsense. :)

When I made the itstoohard.com link for the final puzzle piece, I was really hoping for all 8 characters to have ASCII between 0-99 so the humanity counter in the upper-left corner could point to it. With the endless firekeeper soul eating exploit (+5 humanity each time) plus eating humanity balls (+1 humanity each time) I think this wouldn't have required much additional work at all. I created a lot of bogus itstoohard puzzles, trying to get one that worked, but didn't get one and eventually gave up. :( :( :(

So I had to put the ASCII in the soul counter somehow.

If you haven't played Dark Souls, the number in the lower-right corner is your total "souls" - like gold and xp. You spend it to buy things, to level up, to upgrade and repair your equipment, etc.

So, plan B:

First, get a mountain of damaged equipment.
Then, check how many souls I need to show the correct ASCII code.
Then, subtract how many souls I will get from fighting my way to the starting point of the video.
Then, repair damaged things at a bonfire until I have the proper amount of souls.
Then, get to the starting point of the video without the wrong enemies dying, or otherwise screwing up the numbers.
Then, record the video.
Finally, go back and grab the armour set I was dancing around, and repeat the whole process at the next area.

And it worked, more or less. I couldn't get the exact number of souls, but thinking about it now, that would have been too obvious anyway. This was the best I could manage:

Video A: 00000 .. nothing, it's the start of the game after all. :)
Video I: 01463 .. 063 .. ?
Video F: 03790 .. 090 .. Z
Video E: 02566 .. 066 .. B
Video H: 16120 .. 120 .. x
Video G: 07121 .. 121 .. y
Video C: 05199 .. 099 .. c
Video B: 04389 .. 089 .. Y
Video D: 18584 .. 084 .. T
Video J: 06197 .. 097 .. a

Which finally leads to this.

Aha, it's Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam/Yusuf singing "Sitting" from Catch Bull at Four. Nothing to do with the puzzle, just always was a big fan of his music. :)

Plus a note "Congratulations!! Add me on Steam for the secret giveaway... :)" I'd heard some ne'er-do-wells solve puzzles together, so I did this to try and catch them. :)

Turns out this extra step wasn't necessary, since there was only one solver. The Dark Souls II giveaway was here. Nice job, chour!


Well, that's the end. Noticed any mistakes? If so, let me know. :) Otherwise, thanks for playing, everyone! :)

9 years ago*

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Oh man, I have not played DS yet, there are risks of spoilers in this puzzle of yours?

9 years ago
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Hmmmm, if watching things kill me is spoilery, then yes. :)

Hmm, a serious answer would be if you're trying to avoid any information about the game at all, then it's full of spoilers. :( The videos show some different areas of the game, a few bosses, that sort of thing. And if you've never played the game before, you'll probably have to hunt around on a wiki for some of the answers - and you know how easy it is to spoil yourself once you're poking around a wiki... :)

9 years ago
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Thanks for the answer, you stopped me in time before going full wiki. You enter to read how the main character is called and before you realize it you already know how the game ends.

9 years ago
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Praise the Sun.

9 years ago
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Hmm, let's see if steamgifts eats this comment... \o/

9 years ago
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Thanks mate! Hope i solve it!

9 years ago
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Belated good luck! :)

9 years ago
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I wish I could win the bundle thing ... but I've never played dark souls :(

9 years ago
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You can probably find the answers eventually, with enough googling. But if you've never played the game you might not know what all the questions mean. Good luck! :)

9 years ago
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Dark souls is literally one of my favorite games hahaha

9 years ago
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Im honestly a little stuck at question 2 Part H. I shall figure it out!

9 years ago
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I haven't solved any of it, so someone raced through the whole thing in about five minutes. I guess it was a bit too easy for the Dark Souls fans. :) But I'm sure the usual crowd of puzzle solvers will make their way to the finish eventually...

Having solved one or two obscure puzzles for video games I've never played, I think all you really need is google + patience. :)

9 years ago
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welp i think ima give up. I look forward to the hint being revealed just so i can punch myself in the throat hahahah.

9 years ago
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Aha, if you haven't needed any hints yet, I should probably warn you... It's not very hinty... :)

9 years ago
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Yeah... I'm stuck on Part H Q2 as well... :S

9 years ago
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Good luck bump... :)

9 years ago
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I finished the puzzle without actually watching the video. Am I a bad person?

9 years ago
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Not sure, maybe you simply played too much Dark Souls. :)

9 years ago
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Probably stupid but I've never seen that white circle on an enemy while playing
I wonder if it's a setting or something

9 years ago
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That circle is from when you lock on to an enemy. On a controller you click on the right stick, on a Mouse+Keyboard I have no idea all how to do it. :(

9 years ago
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I believe keyboard's default lock on is 'O' but I may be wrong, I rebound it to middle mouse button.

9 years ago
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I use the DSmousefix myself, middle mouse wheel was the default key

9 years ago
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So that's what it was. I guess I should learn to use it too

9 years ago
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You should <.< It helps with most enemies and PvP, only some bosses it's less helpful

9 years ago
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I can't do pvp anyway, never managed to make an online gfwl profile so I'm stuck on offline mode

9 years ago
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I usually don't lock on too much in PvP. Locking on makes you vulnerable to getting backstabbed because of the way lag works in the game.

9 years ago
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I am terrible at pvp, so when someone isn't locking on I know I'm going to get a free lesson... :)

9 years ago
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It's often helpful but lock-on can also get you killed, usually via gravity. :)

A couple of common ones at the start of the game, in the Undead Burg:

You leave the bonfire, kill the crossbow guy, then go down the stairs to your right to fight whoever's coming up. You lock on, and later when they dodge poorly and fall off the ledge, you take a hasty step "forward" and follow them, straight down. :)

Or, you leave the bonfire, kill the crossbow guy, wait for the guy coming up the stairs, carefully fight him where it's safe, and not fall off anywhere. Then, you dash across that passage to the left where people are throwing firebombs. As you get close to the next room, you see an enemy and lock on, charging forward to fight them. Only you've actually locked on to a different enemy to your left, and charge forward, through a small gap in the wall, and fall straight down. :)

Don't ask how I know about these. :)

9 years ago
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I'm stuck at part K, I'm probably overlooking something. Well, there's only 3,628,800 possible answers, I'll get it in a year or two.

9 years ago
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Hope nobody rents a botnet to brute-force it in 30 seconds... :)

9 years ago
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I'm stuck there too!

9 years ago
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I've joined your pain :<

9 years ago
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Really, though, a few of those combinations are eliminated logically...

Unless it's a NG+ run, which would mean no one is safe! Muahahaha!

9 years ago
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The whole thing is NG, and please no giving out hints... :(

Didn't think to make any of these videos in NG+ until I'd started writing the explanation - which you can read in Part K... If I had thought of it, I would have leveled up Endurance before fighting the Asylum Demon to prove it was the last video. But from the Stamina bars you can see I didn't think of the idea in time.

Already had to start over once because I didn't notice a "fraps" FPS counter in the first few videos, so if I'd had to start over twice I probably would have just quit the whole thing...

9 years ago
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Looks like 11 people managed to solve that part so far, I'm pretty sure they didn't get it via random guessing. :)

Good luck!

9 years ago
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I dont get the first question =/ I am 100% sure i know the answer if I could just understand it

9 years ago
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Sorry, perhaps my syntax is a bit confusing... Good luck!

9 years ago
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First question makes no sense, I tried all the possible answers based on how you hint it and still nothing. So fucking vague.

9 years ago
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You're probably over-thinking it... Sorry!

9 years ago
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Bump for actually I was lying about being sorry before, sorry about that! :) Let's hope this friendly fellow doesn't win. :)

9 years ago
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I don't get the 2nd question of the B part, I don't wanna be casul :(

9 years ago
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same here

9 years ago
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You're not the only one :P

9 years ago
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Become unstoppable bump... :)

9 years ago
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Not sure what you are looking for on the first question.....I tried everything that makes sense to me...keep getting Wrong!

Edit: got it...moving on
Edit #2: made it to part k...ugh :)

9 years ago
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Sorry! My puzzles are always bad, it's not your fault. :)

9 years ago
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Not bad puzzles, just different perspectives/ preferences/ play styles can make these kind of puzzles difficult - perfect for the Dark Souls theme. Thanks!

9 years ago
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Good luck with Part K bump... :)

9 years ago
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Bump for solved it!....but I feel like I might still be missing something.....

9 years ago
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Hooray, good job!

Can't say, but it looks like you still have a couple days to find out... :)

9 years ago
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I like your puzzle.

9 years ago
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Aha, looks like you might want a Demon's Souls puzzle, but sadly I don't have one... :)

9 years ago
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Just make all the answers Sticky White Stuff -> puzzle is done!

9 years ago
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Woot, completed from start to end--bragging rights, achieved~

Thanks for the puzzles and giveaways; it was real fun.

9 years ago
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Congratulations! Only wish I had something better to give away than bundle junk... :)

p.s. Hope you don't get any people begging for hints... :)

9 years ago
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Haha, well solving that last puzzle really gave me a sense of achievement either way. :3

I don't thiiink that'll happen, but I hope so too. :P

9 years ago
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"Hints will appear in 0h 10m" but more than 10min passed and nothing, why they don't appear?

9 years ago
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I'm not an "itstoohard.com" expert, but maybe you need to refresh the page? Good luck!

9 years ago
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No I tried, also same happens if using another browser.

9 years ago
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Hmm, don't know why that would happen, sorry. :( But to be honest I don't think the hints will help much... Good luck!

9 years ago
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For hints to appear you have to answer anything at least once.

Edit: just for information

9 years ago
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i um sud becos i is bundlemans :(

9 years ago
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No bundlemans no cry bump... :)

9 years ago
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bump for solved

9 years ago
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Aha, congratulations! Now for the good part... :)

9 years ago
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Can't even solve Part B Q2. Probably because I'm not familiar with the game. Many random stuff that seems likely that I found at the wiki didn't work.

9 years ago
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Oh well, it's just bundle leftovers anyway, so you're not missing anything... :) Good luck if you try again!

9 years ago
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i failed at K

i have only watched 2 vids on my mobile though

anyway thanks for the awesome puzzle with 11 days left till dark souls 2 this is perfect

9 years ago
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Good luck if you try again later... :) Looks like some people have solved it so far, still 4 days left on these giveaways... :)

9 years ago
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the thing is i got 6GB of bandwidth a month and i try to not watch any videos becuase just with normal browsing i run out in two or three weeks then spend a week or two with dial up speeds
and trying to solve K with just the thumbnails is going to be a bit hard :P

9 years ago
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Ouch! :(

I can't give any give any hints, but unfortunately I don't see how it would be possible to solve this thing without the videos. Sorry! :(

9 years ago
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nah man don't give hints
ill just watch em at a friend's house or something

9 years ago
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I'm gonna pass K as well. DS's world isn't as linear as people may think and there's only one hint was was before and after certain video, but it's too vague.

9 years ago
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No hints, and I'm far from an expert at the game but I have played once or twice... :)

Being in human form was just for aesthetics - hollow is just too ugly... :) I was playing online but never met another player. Did have some fog gates temporarily but GFWL saved the day again... :|

If you're trying to guess what recommended/official/whatever path I may have followed, or what mistaken assumptions about linearity I may have made, you're doing it wrong. :)

You've reached the only actual puzzle; the previous questions were just Dark Souls trivia google could solve. :)

9 years ago
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Ha. I am a DS addict! Solved K! Yay!

9 years ago
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Congratulatory bump! :) Yay! :)

9 years ago
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caught in the first question, help me

9 years ago
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"And please no asking for hints, giving out hints, working together with your friends, etc." :)

9 years ago
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No engaging in jolly cooperation?

9 years ago
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Sadly, no. :(

"And please no asking for hints, giving out hints, working together with your friends, etc." :)

If you miss it, you must be blind! :)

9 years ago
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Summon Solaire, he will know the answer and he is a helpful guy :)

9 years ago
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Love this puzzle and love DS! I easily got the first puzzle, although I already got that game. I'm on the second puzzle, which I'm finding a lil harder then the previous one :)

9 years ago
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Good luck! It's a bunch of bundle junk, so don't work too hard at it... :)

9 years ago
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Strange. I'm pretty sure I'm giving right answer to part G-1, but it keeps telling me I'm wrong ._.

[EDIT] Nevermind, figured out other answer.

9 years ago
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Sounds like you're getting close, good luck bump... :)

9 years ago
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VICTORY ACHIEVED! Muahahaha!

Edit: total victory!

9 years ago
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You shall obtain the Demon Soul... and a power that is beyond human imagination.

or something like that. :)

9 years ago
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YOU DEFEATED

9 years ago
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Three days left bump... Who will win the precious bundle junk? Not you, lazymans... :)

9 years ago
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Don't give up now lazymans... Puzzle isn't going to solve itself bump... :)

9 years ago
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Bump for you know I don't get any precious CV if there's only 1 entry... My beautiful imaginary points... Whatever will I do... :)

9 years ago
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Bump for two days left... But I think everyone's already given up... :)

9 years ago
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Bump for nothing in particular... :)

9 years ago
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Haven't given up yet, but stuck at part F.

9 years ago
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Good luck bump! Sounds like you're about half-way there! :)

9 years ago
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I managed to make it to part I :)

Was a great puzzle, though I doubt I would have found the secret giveaway at the end.

9 years ago
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Congratulations! Sorry you didn't find the final giveaway...

If you keep trying puzzles, you will probably see the ascii thing again. There's a helpful puzzle guide with many of the common tricks explained, but I think lately most people are just putting a quiz on itstoohard.com and calling it a day. :)

9 years ago
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Closed 9 years ago by fiftykyu.