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Multiple solutions to puzzles (spoliers!)
nofsky Offline
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#1
Multiple solutions to puzzles (spoliers!)

One of the great things about the Penumbra series, something few people even notice, is that some puzzles have more than one solution. I've had a lot of fun replaying the games recently and trying to find new ways of solving the puzzles.

Some examples:
There are many physics based puzzles that are very open to how you solve them, for example the electric fence in Overture. Do you stack boxes, do you build a ramp with the wooden planks, or do you roll a barrel over there (using the planks as ramps over the old bags blocking the way).

Another example is lake Utuqao. Do you bunny hop over the ice, go along the edge of the lake where the ice won't break, or demolish the shack to use the walls as stepping stones?

In Overture, after you reach the storage (with the key and go go juice) there's a blocked door to your left. To reach the other side you can go through the vents or you can just break down the door with your pickaxe.

You don't really have to use the crane, in the same area, to get up to the vents. You can just stack boxes and other things to get up there.

In Overture, to get the electrical fuse from the top shelf in the store room you can use the boxes to stand on, or you can hit the fuse with the broom to knock it down (only real use for the broom?).

In Black Plague, to get a can from the soda machine you can use your flat coin, or just smash it with a rock.

In Black Plague, to get past the cold pipe leak in the vents, you can use your soda can on the thermostat or you can block the leak with one of the bags found in the freezer.

In Black Plague, to get past the locked door in the mess hall you need to get the sprinklers to start. You can place the barrel under the broken broken fusebox and pull the lever to light it on fire. You can also drop a flare in the barrel.



This is what I can recall finding so far (I'm halfway through Black Plague). Have anyone else found other puzzles with multiple solutions?
06-18-2010, 02:33 PM
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spukrian Offline
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#2
RE: Multiple solutions to puzzles (spoliers!)

When you exit the library (in Black Plague) you´re supposed to make a see-saw(?) to jump up to a switch that makes a ladder fall down or something. To this day I´ve never solved that puzzle that way.

The first solution I came up with is to make a ramp up to where the switch is.

The second, easier solution is to grab an object and make the tin covering the switch fall down on it, this activates it.



(06-18-2010, 02:33 PM)nofsky Wrote: In Overture, to get the electrical fuse from the top shelf in the store room you can use the boxes to stand on, or you can hit the fuse with the broom to knock it down (only real use for the broom?).
The broom has a greater reach than the other weapons. If you´re sitting on one of the larger boxes and can´t reach the dog with the hammer or the pickaxe, then you might be able to hit it with the broom. But it deals very little damage and there are better ways to kill dogs.

(06-18-2010, 02:33 PM)nofsky Wrote: In Black Plague, to get a can from the soda machine you can use your flat coin, or just smash it with a rock.
Save the coin and use it in the soda machine in Swanson's office!
06-21-2010, 11:11 PM
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graykin Offline
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#3
RE: Multiple solutions to puzzles (spoliers!)

If only ALL vending machines worked like Swansons... ;-)

06-21-2010, 11:51 PM
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nofsky Offline
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#4
RE: Multiple solutions to puzzles (spoliers!)

(06-21-2010, 11:11 PM)spukrian Wrote: Save the coin and use it in the soda machine in Swanson's office!

Wow, I never thought of that! Do you get a soda can or what happens?
06-22-2010, 04:32 PM
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Sexbad Offline
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#5
RE: Multiple solutions to puzzles (spoliers!)

Find out honey.

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06-23-2010, 12:52 AM
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eliasfrost Offline
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#6
RE: Multiple solutions to puzzles (spoliers!)

Spoiler below!
You get plenty of soda cans! ^^

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06-23-2010, 04:49 PM
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naturon Offline
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#7
RE: Multiple solutions to puzzles (spoliers!)

I have one. Remember the puzzle in Black Plague where you arrive outside for the first time? Where the icy bridge breaks? My first thought was to stack boxes up on the area below and jump over the gap from there. My first course of action was to take a relatively expendable box (the medium-sized one) and launch it off the gap so that it would hit the ice plate down below. The ice plate tipped over due to the weight of the box which conveniently slipped off gradually. After that I built the tower of boxes. I started by taking the largest container and dropped it off the gap carefully. Thankfully it landed in the way I had hoped (it was an oblong box, I had hoped the long side was turning up).

After a lot of painkiller usage and stacking more and more boxes, I finally ended with the smallest boxes on top, two of them. The tower seemed very stable to me, so I took the last remaining box and stacked it just at the point where the gap begins. I jumped from there up to the tower and it became very tipsy and unsteady so I sort of panicked and just ran as far as I could and jumped. I had landed at the other side of the gap and watched the tower fall to the abyss. Immediately after that I noticed that there was a path right beside the gap where you could walk safely.

My method was a lot more adventurous though IMO. Not sure if it was intended to actually work, since it was very tricky to accomplish. I tried it again after dying and I failed plenty of times (although it was a lot easier now that I realized that you could actually light a flame in the barrel, it really didn't occur to me at the time, frantically trying to transcend the gap).
06-24-2010, 01:17 PM
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nofsky Offline
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#8
RE: Multiple solutions to puzzles (spoliers!)

Yeah, that damn collapsing bridge puzzle! I did what you did the first time I played as well, completely missing the ledges. I made it over somehow, though!

Also, making a note to save that coin for the next time I play Black Plague.
06-26-2010, 07:02 PM
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gbee Offline
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#9
RE: Multiple solutions to puzzles (spoliers!)

(06-24-2010, 01:17 PM)naturon Wrote: Immediately after that I noticed that there was a path right beside the gap where you could walk safely.

There was?!? I remember a path down to the lower ledge, but if there was a safe path that didn't require bridge building I completely missed it. I also built a bridge across the gap, boxes on the lower ledge to provide a pillar to support planks laid across. It was pretty fiddly, but I'd already discovered that the barrels could be ignited to keep me warm, so I wasn't in a hurry.

spukrian Wrote:When you exit the library (in Black Plague) you´re supposed to make a see-saw(?) to jump up to a switch that makes a ladder fall down or something. To this day I´ve never solved that puzzle that way.

Hmm, I don't remember that puzzle at all. Was this the library with the secret door?
06-29-2010, 01:43 PM
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naturon Offline
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#10
RE: Multiple solutions to puzzles (spoliers!)

(06-29-2010, 01:43 PM)gbee Wrote:
(06-24-2010, 01:17 PM)naturon Wrote: Immediately after that I noticed that there was a path right beside the gap where you could walk safely.

There was?!? I remember a path down to the lower ledge, but if there was a safe path that didn't require bridge building I completely missed it. I also built a bridge across the gap, boxes on the lower ledge to provide a pillar to support planks laid across. It was pretty fiddly, but I'd already discovered that the barrels could be ignited to keep me warm, so I wasn't in a hurry.

It was a cruel joke at the player's expense no doubt, it's very cleverly camouflaged. On your next playthrough if you decide to play it again, look for a series of platforms receding from the rocky wall. I was wrong in saying I tried multiple times after dying, because that contradicts my statement about noticing it immediately after crossing the gap. I did die but I only built one pillar now that I think about it.
06-29-2010, 08:01 PM
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