Turns out the best way to write a puzzle explanation is to sit down and write it. Ideally before you make the puzzle, but I never remember to do that... Usually I just start fooling around with numbers and bundle keys and see what turns up... :)

Yeah, numbers and bundle keys. I guess this will spoil any future puzzles, but my key drops with random leftover bundle keys are never random leftover bundle keys - there's always something hiding inside.

LOOK AT THE KEYS!

I'm not clever enough to save links to old puzzles, but poking around found some examples:

Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition puzzle, or Little Witch Romanesque: Editio Perfecta puzzle :), or NieR:Automata puzzle, or, of course, Dark Souls 1+2+3 & The Miskatonic puzzle and The Miskatonic + Monster Hunter: World puzzle. :)

I suggest anyone working on puzzles read the puzzle guide first. For this specific puzzle, you have a pile of text (i.e. the bundle keys) meant to distract you from the secret message(s) hiding inside. Like this:

1xxxx-xx2xx-xxxx3
1xxxx-xx2xx-xxxx3
1xxxx-xx2xx-xxxx3
1xxxx-xx2xx-xxxx3
1xxxx-xx2xx-xxxx3

The first column in the keys gives THATISNOTDEADWHICHCANETERNALLIEANDWITHSTRANGEAEONS which Lovecraft fans might know as That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons... :)

The second column in the keys (yeah, ok it's not a column, it moves around because I don't own a million spare bundle keys...) gives 486F776D616E796167657368656E63655368616C6C74686973 which umm, it's a long string of gibberish? Don't worry, that is base 16 ASCII character codes, which you already knew or noticed in the puzzle guide. Turning that into text gives HowmanyageshenceShallthis which looks like Shakespeare if you spread it out a bit How many ages hence Shall this... :) Yeah, I wasted a lot of time trying to make some other Lovecraft quotes fit instead, but I didn't own enough bundle keys to pull it off. Oh well... :(

The third column gives ISAWTHEBODYSPREADONTHATDANKSTONEANDKNEWTHOSETHINGS which is also Lovecraft, but you'd probably need to google it to discover where I saw the body spread on that dank stone, And knew those things came from... :)

Incidentally, that should (?) explain the keys added in the 26 July edit, which didn't help with the puzzle but just gave you one more chance to notice something. The things you could notice were GALLIA EST OMNIS DIVISA IN PARTES TRES QVARVM VNAM INCOLVNT BELGAE ALIAM AQVITANI TERTIAM QVI IPSORVM LINGVA CELTAE NOSTRA GALLI APPELLANTVR and This is not a hint. This is not a hint. This is not....... and HI OMNES LINGVA INSTITVTIS LEGIBVS INTER SE DIFFERVNT GALLOS AB AQVITANIS GARVMNA FLVMEN A BELGIS MATRONA ET SEQVANA DIVIDIT FREE KEYS WOOHOO which google could explain for you. :) There's no U in Steam keys, sorry. :)

The 4 August edit was the same idea - ?HINT? and HINTHINT in the keys were trying to get everyone to look at the keys. That's it. :)

Anyway, the solution to these puzzles comes about by guessing you need to finish the quote. Otherwise you're screwed. Hence the Burma-Shave "hint" in the itstoohard things. Blah blah blah blah, and googling tells you the missing part is BURMA-SHAVE. The part in the keys is "blah blah blah blah" so you just type in the rest of the line, i.e. the "Burma-Shave" part. Yeah, it's not a very good hint. Sorry! :)

Anyway, solving those first three itstoohard puzzles led to the Miskatonic giveaways 1 2 3, each of which contained a number.

For the fourth itstoohard thing, you only needed to add the numbers: 2247371907021798609437 + 3673622262609912460805 + 2490417963119497539938 = 8411412132751208610180. Which leads to... ?

For everyone who tried to do something with that number, umm, sorry. A lot of people noticed what's going on, but more than a few didn't... :( Check the puzzle guide one last time. It's simply more ASCII characters. Would 084 114 121 032 075 120 086 101 080 have helped? Yeah, definitely. I guess if you're familiar with ASCII you noticed, and if not, you didn't. Anyway, turning that ASCII stuff back into text gives Try KxVeP which was the Monster Hunter: World giveaway.

Sorry it took so long to write the explanation, and sorry the puzzle was dumb. Hmm, seems I'm always writing this...

I could say I'll try to do better next time, but most likely next time I'll be just as lazy and make the same dumb things again. So thank you for playing, and good luck next time! :)


Original message:

Umm, nope, same here. Maybe when it's in a bundle?

You know, it doesn't really say "Humble Monthly" to me, and frankly it looks too good for Indie Gala or (current) Groupees... But you never know...

The store page https://store.steampowered.com/app/870290/The_Miskatonic/ looks interesting, but it sounds like they ran out of money or the programmer left or something? I dunno. In other words, typical kickstarter? The art looks cool though.

Anyway, maybe if you solve one of these puzzles, you won't have to buy it:

Level 0 puzzle, i.e. public giveaway Can you solve the puzzle of the people who try to win a visual novel but can't read? One of the enduring Steamgifts mysteries...

Level 1 puzzle

Level 2 puzzle

Level 3 puzzle

Level 4 puzzle

And the obligatory puzzle pieces disguised as a bundle leftover key dump in 3... 2... 1...

TZM3N-CB๐ŸœB2-MN6QI
H9YC9-CA73๐Ÿ -0A5LS
ALIEX-4V๐ŸžE3-7PBKA
T5WAC-GC8๐”ฝ7-NXPMW
IN4YK-GBDZ๐ŸŸ-C7JYT
S20IL-MCZ๐ŸŸE-Y3ECH
NTFEX-๐ŸžZCYW-Y44AE
O2DZE-FG๐”ปAH-LDHHB
TAYBX-๐ŸžQWBE-GZKTO
D5WZ0-JY๐Ÿ™PV-5GVLD
EA9EA-QW๐ŸžPR-KEBAY
ANCR8-FY๐”ผIW-WVV5S
D5W3P-AC0๐ŸŸ9-2AH4P
W4CB5-K0๐ŸกHK-GC4PR
HYBX9-๐Ÿž3A0T-LNGCE
I087L-F2K๐Ÿ™V-F6EXA
C62Q5-VC7๐Ÿž2-82JPD
HGWNC-YWV๐ŸŸ4-AFCPO
CF035-K0๐ŸžYD-EINZN
A5IJM-KV๐ŸLY-GBZMT
NDBZL-๐ŸŸ5DQT-4EDZH
EJPTY-0YGX๐Ÿ›-LL57A
TR7HB-IWE๐ŸžG-KRFRT
ETFE0-D๐Ÿ QNE-VXRXD
RECEP-Q๐ŸžKAR-J79PA
N5FK2-L2๐Ÿ99-D9GMN
A74RZ-๐ŸžEGDT-XAHWK
LQGMZ-YV๐”ผ5I-VBRGS
L8R7K-๐ŸžB4A8-0JFCT
IF3T3-MB๐Ÿ›I2-CYR0O
EE9R8-๐ŸžZH3E-MQBYN
AL3AW-29๐ŸBV-XFRBE
NH5ZV-M๐Ÿ3T4-VZ20A
DQKNX-๐Ÿ›XZ8K-AZ8CN
WVCQK-JN๐ŸžM9-V26QD
IJVYM-8B๐Ÿ 7N-AGJDK
T6M88-4X๐ŸžKN-N4W7N
H0FZ0-๐Ÿ™7YQN-XK46E
S5Q5E-๐Ÿž3QH3-JVGVW
TC2EA-M๐•”PL3-IK7LT
RIR3K-๐Ÿž2YPV-4AN4H
AGACG-WJIZ๐•”-WZNQO
N6YLN-H8G๐ŸŸ0-YKJ3S
GWF9Z-T๐Ÿœ2XY-WR2ZE
EI8J0-YKW๐ŸžT-WY28T
AZA87-0P๐Ÿ R2-IZZQH
EXM6X-F๐ŸžQXW-QEYMI
OG2T8-๐Ÿก6CJN-JCA2N
NWLLB-AGD๐ŸŸ7-0YV4G
SDAVV-P64๐Ÿ›7-8Q6XS

Good luck! :)


Edit 26 July:

Hey, I couldn't think of any new hints, but I did find some more leftover bundle keys... :) Someone's got to feed those starving bots... :)

GKEWA-79๐Ÿ6P-Q6QZH
A5G89-8I๐ŸœMT-5Q80I
L82IV-F0NV๐Ÿž-L5L8O
LN6VR-27๐Ÿ TB-2YNQM
I3CXG-ERJ๐ŸžK-83GEN
ANXEB-5๐ŸกVM3-6MMGE
E7DHY-95EV๐ŸŸ-80PHS
SRYI8-๐Ÿ›JGX6-AMCHL
TVDVA-D0๐Ÿš03-HNICI
OGKWH-YA๐Ÿ˜EM-9K6HN
MP8YT-I9๐ŸžKZ-D8Q3G
NVEAA-KF๐ŸกVX-QD7TV
IT5E3-W๐ŸŸE68-EIWAA
SZ7ZW-X9๐Ÿ›DM-C8VYI
DNHLE-VJ๐ŸšBB-2JVEN
IR47G-DQL๐Ÿ˜E-PNJES
VX48N-8XZ๐ŸžI-6I2BT
IAN5V-8E๐”ผPV-W404I
SZBXW-๐ŸžEPL0-84KHT
AMKZC-4VKZ๐”ฝ-BPWWV
IW5Q6-WZ๐ŸŸKX-CPE5T
NM0NM-FW๐ŸœN6-K0JKI
PV4XJ-RM83๐Ÿš-4TVES
A9Q2F-FM๐Ÿ˜NG-KI3TL
R8BK2-H05๐ŸžJ-TXG4E
T47W6-IMC๐Ÿ™E-AE2VG
E53VQ-BW๐ŸšGE-KLKJI
SMHKY-7R๐Ÿ˜57-4CJZB
TPG4R-WX๐ŸžIG-P9FXV
R3RGL-74๐Ÿ IT-ICCWS
EIL69-95T๐ŸžP-GTI4I
STL7R-H2๐ŸกTR-X2XQN
Q6T6M-MG๐ŸžPB-KGFHT
V54G9-8M๐”ผCK-LFWLE
AN9RV-MFQ2๐ŸŸ-PLRNR
R9247-๐ŸœDQZC-BQIPS
VZQAC-3AG๐ŸšJ-EXAAE
MW040-JV๐”ผV3-33Y6D
VPQ0I-๐ŸšKFZL-47MFI
NZ4CK-J๐Ÿ˜AVQ-X3C9F
AEIKT-09๐Ÿš4E-TR64F
MCYAC-44๐Ÿ˜Z9-YFKCE
I62TA-๐ŸNFIP-CB7RR
N4EM8-๐ŸœX0TH-XDM3V
C2HDL-R0GV๐Ÿž-EKFXN
OARQ0-3D๐Ÿ CM-ANDBT
LCDHV-K๐Ÿž8VV-5GC0G
VIZCN-K๐Ÿก6F4-462WA
NH5RK-FDY๐ŸŸQ-NNH2L
TVQHM-X88๐Ÿ›R-N3ZXL
BC386-NE๐ŸšMY-70JFO
ENB4Y-YW๐Ÿ˜0P-4I3PS
L6WEK-๐ŸžF5FD-RX6BA
GACNE-6B๐ŸกV4-7NA5B
AA479-YP๐ŸŸEN-VBWIA
EA3Y5-JX๐Ÿ›ZM-5NILQ
AHZAW-XFJK๐Ÿš-RMZDV
LEZV4-AZ77๐Ÿ˜-9ZNAI
IV3CI-MJ๐Ÿž49-9QQCT
A0F3I-๐”ผDNTJ-MNJBA
MEY9M-๐Ÿž8VN5-QE94N
A0CVJ-LD๐”ฝP6-98PKI
QCAXA-9GLW๐ŸŸ-39R9S
VGDCC-84W๐ŸœW-EHG0G
ITN05-0L๐Ÿš75-7L2CA
T69H7-052๐Ÿ˜E-2KQJR
A0MLQ-๐ŸžHMN6-80NLV
NIY4V-ARD๐Ÿ™M-Y6Z4M
I5MXJ-GY๐ŸšBF-Y6A9N
TKJGK-E๐Ÿ˜P3N-0CADA
EE3N8-2R2P๐Ÿž-LNR0F
RTV0P-W5E๐Ÿ G-7D2JL
TPG4R-WX๐ŸžIG-P9FXV
IE5MC-QC๐ŸกCV-PH67M
AVX8Y-PC๐ŸžRF-2TQWE
MCB4I-D๐”ผL9I-6XA8N
Q2BNV-AQ3๐ŸŸT-6LFAA
V0A5L-ZP๐Ÿœ8K-AGPEB
IV2LJ-๐Ÿš64AX-DFXGE
IPMB4-W3๐”ผIC-JDXRL
P582X-๐ŸšP77T-7EFMG
SMWZA-YZ9J๐Ÿ˜-EA6HI
ONL5T-L4๐Ÿš2F-2ZC9S
R2T5J-๐Ÿ˜JMPW-CAP9M
V89B7-GI๐Ÿ2J-R64XA
MJLDR-๐ŸœCTAW-CWLYT
LTAKR-EWQ๐ŸžV-9MTNR
I8ZJZ-ZR๐Ÿ BH-38V3O
NW0Y9-4๐Ÿž2YW-I5CNN
GECRQ-H8๐ŸกK0-WXIRA
VNAF2-TY๐ŸŸDF-KD6VE
A60ME-FWYR๐Ÿ›-BNPLT
CYA2A-TX๐ŸšN5-4W6GS
EPHR9-Z32๐Ÿ˜Y-AL9WE
L37TI-DIP๐Ÿž3-W5IAQ
THGMB-74๐ŸกY9-2RZVV
AA479-YP๐ŸŸEN-VBWIA
EH8HA-AY๐Ÿ›7V-E80ZN
NVEKT-P9Y0๐Ÿš-W9XVA
ONKQD-P5๐Ÿ˜79-MWHJD
SVPY0-2X๐ŸžPZ-VWFRI
T42BT-๐”ผBGMC-THYBV
R8F24-HWX๐Ÿž6-5CW9I
AWMTL-D๐”ฝR5Y-AL57D
GFKAV-54Y๐ŸŸT-A4Z2I
A0VZ3-AR7๐ŸœZ-J3Z3T
L97DM-FAL๐Ÿš8-JIKDF
L8FHY-๐”ผATFX-ACVYR
I9PFY-R๐ŸšY35-D6YLE
AJA56-RX๐”ผ8X-FDEEE
P5IE0-Q9๐ŸšXB-Y695K
PEDQL-4๐”ผG45-CK9LE
EN8LW-IG๐ŸšIZ-BV3QY
LWNKA-F๐”ผC3Y-VFW7S
LB7JY-BH๐Ÿš0K-57X3W
ADLWM-6W3X๐”ผ-EB97O
NRCM2-JMF3๐Ÿš-4KLWO
TDEYE-Y7K9๐”ผ-W0YKH
VQ4JK-8KP๐ŸšH-H383O
RPBXV-7B๐”ผGH-2LYIO


Edit 28 July:

So you thought this puzzle sucked? You're in luck, there's a completely different puzzle here! :)


Edit 4 August:

Hey, it's your last day to solve this, so have one last hint:

H4I7M-โ’พ๐Ÿ…žโž‘โž‹โ’ฟ-RXYF2
I3LNI-โž‹โ’ธโ’ถโ’ธ๐Ÿ…ž-TGYND
ND249-โ“€โ“†โ’นโžโ“‚-MJIZI
TBPDG-โ“†โ“‹โžŒโ“€โ’ธ-47E7J
HJLNM-โ“โ’ถโžโ“ƒโ’บ-3KHNQ
IF8I5-โ“Žโ’ถโ’ธโ“Œโ“Œ-IKZQJ
N8M0E-โ’ผโ“†๐Ÿ…žโ“‚โ’น-P6EQ5
TK5WW-โ’ฟโ’ธโ“†โ’ฟโ“…-GZ54J

HCBEW-โžŽโ“…โ“ƒโ’พ๐Ÿ…ž-9WLGZ
IJVCC-โžŽโ’นโ“…โ“โž‘-WM5BP
NDQ9D-๐Ÿ…žโ“โ’ฟโ“€โžŽ-GP097
T0MV6-โž‘โžโžŽโžโžŽ-PQKJW
H9XAD-โž’โ“‚โ’บโ“‡โž-AG434
IYC2L-โžโ“‡โ“โ“ŽโžŽ-TC8BP
N3ZRE-โžโ’พโ’ฝโ“โžŒ-9MXNL
TANMV-โ’ทโ’พโ’ฝโ“Œโ’ธ-V6B02

HRYBY-โ’นโžโž‹โž‹โ’พ-2WXFD
IHDWK-โ’ธโ’ธโžŒโ“Œโ’ท-PHVBW
NXHV6-โ“€โ’นโž‹โ’ฟโ’พ-BCMZ7
T8W77-โ’ปโ’ฝโž‘โ’ผโ“…-KRT48
HFTYP-โ“…โ’ฟโžโ’ผโ“ƒ-62JCV
IWJR7-โ’พโ’ฟโž’โ’ปโ“ƒ-G56CW
NQJEX-โ’ปโžโžŒ๐Ÿ…žโ’น-KBD32
TY9R9-โ’ถโ’ปโ“โ’ผโ“‹-YIYHD

HNLEW-โžโ“‚โ“โ’ปโžŒ-XNAHG
IIBCL-โžŽโ“โ’บโ’ฟโž-TD6YW
NY8D5-โž‹โž’โ“…โ’ธโž-RWMFP
TGQ6C-โž‹โ’ทโžโ“โž-49TDD
HHJRT-โžโ“โ’ธโž’โž‹-PDQ6B
IG4BV-โž‹โ’บโ“‰โ“‹โž‘-A8CQN
NZPLX-๐Ÿ…žโ’ธโ“โ“†โžŽ-2RZZ7
TFK5F-โ’นโ’ปโ“†โ“†โ’ผ-NLT9N

H0BY4-โž’โž๐Ÿ…žโžŒโž’-BCCDW
I04G7-โ’ผโ“€๐Ÿ…žโ’ธโ“‡-J7M6A
NYXLB-โ“‡โ“โžŒโ“โ“Ž-GPG33
TLT3Y-โ’ถโ“Œ๐Ÿ…žโ“†โ’ป-QWRP8
HQJV2-โ“‰โ“†โžโ’พโ“‚-GPPBX
IHEBB-โ“Œโ’ทโž‘โ“โ’ป-TZ5Z7
NB9XV-โ“‹โ“‹๐Ÿ…žโ“…โ“†-Q3FF0
TQ396-โ“‰โ’บโ’บโ“โ’ฝ-T2E89

HF5TI-โ“‚โžโžโžŽโ“Œ-5NK4Q
I09AZ-โž’โ’ทโ’ฟโ’บโž-6G3Z5
NZ7MX-โ’ถโ’ฟโ“Œโžโ’ฟ-QE7AC
T43Q0-โ“ƒโ’ธโžŒโ’พโ“Œ-3BKVD
HY4B5-โ“‰โ“€โžโ“‰โ’พ-9P4JP
IE6AW-โ“โ’ถโ“โ“†โ“‰-9HQD4
NXF86-โ’ผโ“…โž‘โ’บโ’บ-YF7ZZ
T30NZ-โ’ถโ’ถโ“‹โ’พโ“-CQ2EX


Edit 5 August:

So you're wondering where the solution might be hiding? Ahh, it's not written yet - for some mysterious reason the Level 4 giveaway is still running... :) So you still have three days to work it out, or maybe just forget about this nonsense and go play something you already own... :)

Good luck... :)

p.s. I say "for some mysterious reason" but it's not actually mysterious - although I managed to forget it... :) Fortunately I put off writing the explanation so long that I noticed it's too early to write it. Sorry about that! :)

5 years ago*

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So its a pseudo-manga VN utilising the basics of a currently popular and famed public domain IP / lore of it because they didnt have any original ideas?

5 years ago
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Umm, I dunno. Haven't played it.

Maybe they thought Lovecraft was cool? I think that's allowed. Not sure how you'd get to "didnt have any original ideas" from there, but who knows? I haven't played it.

No idea about the story, but I'm pretty sure at least the art didn't create itself. :)

5 years ago
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indeed, the art is original (in the sense it was specifically done for it).

I'm just seeing a whole bunch of VNs right now that have zero ideas / uniqiueness / originality in source material. Combine this with the amount of games (films, books music etc as well) that use a low grade quick take on "lovecraft" and "cthulu mythos" to do their thing,,, perhaps then i might be making more sense?

5 years ago
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Oh, it's probably been done to death - but still, there's some amazing creativity in the "this wouldn't even exist without Lovecraft" genre... :)

It's not a visual novel, but I think Bloodborne counts... :) And for actual visual novels, Deus Machina Demonbane (maybe don't google that one at work) is not just lazy copy+paste... :)

But I can't exactly defend this specific game, since I haven't played it. Maybe it's a lazy cash-in, a total rip off. No idea. But the only part I can see from the store page, i.e. the art, doesn't look like it, so I have hopes for the words, too... :)

5 years ago
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Thanks for the key drop, I grabbed a few (couldn't believe I'd actually beaten the bots for once ๐Ÿ˜…), then stopped and left some for other humans and/or bots

I got Green Game: TimeSwapper, Equalizer, Qvabllock, Cunning Fox, TANK VS ROBOT, WireNet, NeoBoom2, Unite Cell and Boy Knight

5 years ago
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No problem, it's just bundle leftovers anyway. Did you have to convert the funny-looking letters by hand, or does Steam take them as-is? Guess I could just try one myself and see...

Aha, no worky. Sucks for the bots, then... :)

5 years ago
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I bought it but didn't play it yet.
The reviews are good and I believe I'll enjoy it.

5 years ago
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It definitely looks interesting, and it's cheap, but somehow I was thinking hmm, wish there were a discount somewhere... Guess I'm cheap, too... :(

5 years ago
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It is cheap. But I liked the art and it looks like a really interesting story.
Also, seems like the price is fair.
The fact that there's no choices doesn't bother me. I have read great VN's that are kinetic.

5 years ago
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I have no clue about the price. :( I've paid more for games I'll never install, and I'll certainly install this once I finally decide to buy it... :) But you know how it is, there's usually a discount somewhere, if you wait long enough... :) Why pour money down a hole? :)

I'd rather have some choices in a visual novel, since I can always read books... :) But there's a lot of fun visual novels where you just read and read and read, so it's not a complete deal-breaker... :) I thought Shan Gui was fun, and very short, so if this one's short too I wouldn't feel cheated. :)

5 years ago
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Took RIR3K-62YPV-4AN4H (let the bots try too!). Thanks! :D

5 years ago
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Wonder if the bots are all asleep? Or nobody's bothered to teach their key-grabbing bot how to deal with the double-struck characters?

No clue... But at least you got some umm, bundle garbage! :) Looks like no trading cards, sorry... :)

5 years ago
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I tried a few, all duped, too many activation attempts. Well, that was worth a shot. :P

Too bad I don't have the faintest clue what I'm supposed to do with the puzzles, but thanks anyway! :D

5 years ago
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Sounds like you tried 10... :)

Sorry I didn't leave a larger pile of keys, only 50 (for different games) won't last long around here... :( Maybe I'll add some more later, but I'm pretty lazy so don't expect anything... Oh well...

Ahh, I don't know if this classic guide would help with this specific puzzle, but I do this sort of thing a lot, so maybe check for an older topic full of similar keys for hints...

Good luck... :)

5 years ago
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Thanks! I found a couple of old threads with some googling and I'll set my brain ablaze due to overheating try to figure something out from them tomorrow or the day after.

And don't worry about the keys -- I wasn't really expecting any of them to work. I just tried because, you know, you won't know whether any of them are still good until you try! :P

5 years ago
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Good luck, this is pretty easy as my puzzles used to go, although lately I'm super lazy... So If you've seen a pile of "bundle leftovers" in an old thread you're in business... Otherwise you may have to think or something silly like that... :)

True enough, since if everyone assumes they are used, you might get lucky and find one still untouched... But generally a small number of keys aren't going to last long around here. For every person who says they got a key, there's a bunch of lurkers who are too busy pasting keys to say anything... And a few seconds of regex magic and the whole thing gets sent to someone's bot farm. Just have to hope all the farmers are asleep when the topic appears.. :)

5 years ago
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I think I'm in the right path. I found the thread in question and this has led me to find three things, each obviously linked to a ITH. I'm not altogether sure what I should do with them, though. More specifically, I tried the most obvious things I could associate with them, but I'm still hitting a wall (kinda hard to give any more details without making it very obvious to everyone). Is the hint to jump from what I found to the ITH answer also in the keys somewhere?

5 years ago*
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Well, I dunno what thread you found, but everything you need to solve these puzzles is in this thread, right here. :)

When people are stuck, I'm only suggesting they read that puzzle guide and/or search for old leftover bundle key things to give them ideas, not the actual answers. :) Maybe they get some inspiration, or notice something, or whatever. Anyone thinking something from an old puzzle might be part of the solution to this one is on the wrong track. :)

Hope that helps! :)

5 years ago
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Yeah, I have no idea what I'm doing after all. This just isn't going anywhere. ยฏ\_(ใƒ„)_/ยฏ

5 years ago
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Sorry about that... But maybe if you forget about it for a while you will get a new idea out of the blue, or something... :) Good luck... :)

5 years ago
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Hello world fellow human,
I am programmed wish to upload a message into your random access memories.
Please accept the character array {'t','h','a','n','k',' ','y','o','u','!','\0'} into an appropriate variable on your systems.

Took IF3T3-... (Sleight). L8R7K-... was already taken.

5 years ago
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Aha, you had the good sense not to start trying keys from the top... :) You have done this before... :) Boop. :)

Sorry the keys were just bundle leftovers, though... But at least there's trading cards for some of them... :)

5 years ago
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have not tried the game yet.. too bad its just a kinetic VN, if the choices mattered I would just buy it myself.
THANKS for the puzzle too.. if i'm not too tired after work, i'll give it a shot

5 years ago
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I'd rather play the kind where you can actually do something too... But I thought Shan Gui was a fun game, and all you do in that one is read... So who knows, maybe this is ok too?

Good luck after work! :)

5 years ago
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Never heard of it! Looks interesting, though. I'll keep an eye on it for updates.

Where did you read about those development issues you mentioned?

5 years ago
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It does look interesting! Like someone put in actual effort or something? Pity all the boobie garbage visual novel developers seem to have skipped that part...

Ahh, I read some comments elsewhere discussing the kickstarter thing, umm, I'm too lazy to find it right now, but maybe remind me tomorrow... :)

5 years ago
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The art style does seem a bit unusual, but the trailer is even more so. Oh, and thanks for the key drop!

5 years ago
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Hmm, I haven't watched the trailer yet, will have to remember it later...

No problem, probably all used by now though... :)

5 years ago
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Bump for the first puzzle.

Couldn't sse the Unicode character since my tablet is crap

5 years ago
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Yeah, those "Double Struck" characters don't work everywhere, but it seems to help with bots gobbling up all the keys, or some clown sending the entire list to their bot farm in 0.2 seconds...

You'll probably need to see those funny characters to solve everything, but maybe there's some workaround with copy and paste? Can't think of anything myself though...

5 years ago
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Bump

5 years ago
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Thank you! :)

5 years ago
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Well, took some random shots to see if anything was still available. Was about to give up when A74RZ- worked. I have no idea what "goocubelets" is, but hey, thanks for a game. I'll check it out once I get my comp up and running again.

...I mean....uh.....beep boop I am human.

5 years ago
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Ahh, I believe it's one of those dodgy developer removed games - so you can get trading cards, but you can't actually sell them.

It's possible to trade removed game cards with VanillaBot in exchange for other removed game cards, so if you're missing a few from a set, take a look you might get lucky. Or you might have them stuck in your inventory forever, who knows? :)

5 years ago
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Ya kin also (painfully) complete the set by ways of crafting boosters for that game outta, um, gems.

Yea, so I sicced my savant-friend on your machinations, heretic. Knock, knock-!
Shit, I'm completely lost and torn between all those hints leading in circles ;O
You, sir, should unmask.

5 years ago*
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Oh yeah, I always forget about those stupid booster packs... Not sure I want to waste all my gems on it, though...

Somehow I'm always hoping for the 1:1 any-removed-game-card-trading VanillaBot to have a huge pile of what I'm missing right when I remember to check it... But I guess I don't check it often enough because it's always the same old junk. I assume the uncommon cards disappear quickly... :(

Hmm, don't put too much faith in the puzzle hints, it's more of a "hey, notice this" sort of thing than an actual direct hint...

Oh, in case I forget to add a "BIG HINT" for this puzzle today, you might get a brain wave from the hint recently added to the other puzzle... :)

5 years ago
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Hiya. So turns out all the puzzles have been figured out after a while, the same evening even. I do feel a bit dense in the aftermath, though this seems to be a common theme. But see? Didn't win anything. What are the odds, right? ;p

5 years ago
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Well, there's still that final giveaway... :) You haven't not won it yet, either. :) And since nobody's going to dig through an old puzzle to find the one giveaway that's still running, your chances don't look too bad... :)

5 years ago
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puzzles

;-;

View attached image.
5 years ago
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It's a pretty dumb puzzle, though. :)

I was too lazy to make a real one, so it shouldn't be any trouble for people who have seen my key dump shenanigans before... :)

5 years ago
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I can read but can't puzzle. I can bump tho! :)

5 years ago
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Thank you! :) But it's a pretty easy one, you could try this if you feel motivated... Or screw it works, too... :)

5 years ago
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Just black squares instead of unicode symbols on android. Well, they are all used already anyway, so no worries. Back to solving the puzzle(s)

5 years ago
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Probably gonna need to see what's in those black squares to get anywhere with the puzzle, assuming it's not just a key dump... :) But you knew that already... :)

Good luck... :)

5 years ago
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Bump for the first three. I think I may be too much of a robot to solve the level 4 one, though.

5 years ago
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Hmm, level 4 is the easy one, or so I thought... :( Sorry... :)

Good luck! :)

5 years ago
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Morning bump!

5 years ago
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Sigh, it's here already thank you... :)

5 years ago
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Confused ^_^

5 years ago
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Sorry, this is a pretty dumb one... :)

If you can find some old puzzles with a pile of leftover bundle keys, it's just like one of those. :) And if not, there's always that puzzle guide umm https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/TLR8m/zelgh-magic-guide-to-basic-sg-puzzling-update-october-2017 :)

5 years ago
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I have no idea what the idea behind the puzzles is :(

5 years ago
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Ahh, sorry about that. Usually this is a good place to start with puzzles, if that helps.

Good luck... :)

5 years ago
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Bump for being human. (Or a puzzle-solving bot... shifty eyes (wait... do bots have eyes??...))

5 years ago
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I dunno, but thank you either way... :)

5 years ago
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welp
idk what am I suppose to answer xD

have a bump, anyway :P

5 years ago
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There's hints and stuff, but maybe not very helpful if you don't notice whatever... So have another link to this thing, I keep spamming it... :)

Good luck...

5 years ago
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well, I found the hidden stuff in the op and decoded it
but after that.. ยฏ\(ยฐ_o)/ยฏ

wait a sec... now I'm seeing something else.... (o_O)

5 years ago
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Is it a pony? Made of diamonds? Just checking... :)

5 years ago
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The game looks interesting, thanks for putting this up!
And thanks for the puzzles of course :)

5 years ago
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Yeah, seems like everyone's saying it looks interesting... :) Hopefully it's fun, and not just looks cool but crappy gameplay... :)

Thank you too! :)

5 years ago
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Bump for fiftykyu. Yay!

5 years ago
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Thank you! :)

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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Well, the puzzles are kinda dumb, but maybe try this if you haven't already...

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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Hmm, my puzzle hints are often useless, generally meant to indicate the solver has overlooked something a while back that I'd assumed was obvious...

But sometimes a real hint would have been useful, if only I hadn't been too lazy to write one... Not sure which applies in this case... :(

5 years ago
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Bump for probably taking the longest out of any person to solve #4 after getting 1-3.

5 years ago
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Sorry about that... :) You were probably thinking too hard... :)

5 years ago
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