What's your note taking system?

[carllyngholm]

Hey,

So, been playing for roughly 4 hours total, think I've done 8 days so far. Apparently, to succeed in this game, it is strongly suggested you take notes. I'm not opposed to doing this per se, but take notes of what, exactly? I think I've seen most of the "Early to Mid-Early" rooms multiple times at this point, internalized what unique about them, read each correspondence multiple times. In terms of the mechanics for each room, you don't need to memorize those, because the games literally notates those for you on the map. So... what am I supposed to be taking notes of. Yes, I see things that might be potentially clues, but "seeing" as I've seen them multiple times at this point, I've already internalized them. So, anyone who does takes notes, what kind of approach do you use for a given room. Would appreciate any guidance you might have. Thanks.

[Forblaze]

Information.

Dates, names, codes, maps, information about the world, a lot of letters, diagrams, etc.

Plus more game-y stuff like potential interactions, contraption recipes, rules, and the like

A lot of the post-room 46 content is absolutely going to require notes.

[Shadowgirl00]

I do write down the rooms I find and a quick note of what it does and type, but that is more because I have a gaming journal so I am going to transcribe all of that at some point, but there are things not mentioned in the mapping system that I like to know. Like... it seems the Billiards Room puzzle always gives out keys, or the fact there is always some sort of item that can be found in the Guest Bedroom.

Also, as an aside, the game doesn't list any of the areas on the Estate Grounds, so you may want to take a survey of that and note down any points of interest, because the game won't tell you.

But, there are also complex puzzles that require information that I can't remember off the top of my head. Like if you've ever pulled the Utility Room and seen the VAC lights, the answer to how to do that is found in two parts, in the Office Room and in the Mail Room. The rules are kind of complex and I would never remember that on my own.

As for how I do it, I use those clicky pens that have more than one colour. When I enter a room for the first time, I take a sweep of the room and note anything that stands out me. Like the Chapel is weird right? Those 8 glass stain angels (one of which is hidden behind the alter). Is there a reason for the roman numerals under each angel? What/who are they?

And so I wrote a quick note, calling them things like Garden Angel, Chimmysweep Angel, etc and noted which number they had, because it seemed weird to me.

And I used the red on the clicky pen to denote any questions I have. Like... can I affect the draft pool? Is Room 46 a blueprint or a permanent room like the Entrance Room?

Or like the case of the Utility Room, every single thing that breaker box could affect, I asked, why? What would it do? What did I think it would do? And if I found the answer I wrote it in green for future me.

[DrBoop!]

don't really want to spoil it, but i had to take notes on anything that seemed to match the layout of the house in some way

other things such as sequences

partial codes

it doesn't sound like you've gotten very far? i may be wrong? so i don't want to ruin too much of the discovery

i don't think there's necessarily an approach i take. i think you just have to start encountering some patterns or puzzles that make you realise that certain pieces of information that you may have thought mundane are actually important

[Synnical77]

F12

[MorpheusLunae]

Lots of screenshots of books and letters, several handwritten pages in my notebook, a full timeline of every event, and then I'm also keeping a list of objectives of things I still have to solve or to try out if the daily run allows for it

[snotty128]

Ive got pages of notes.

One thing Ive been doing which I wish Id done earlier is to keep a list of all the things Im trying to achieve on a run. I might not get the rng for the thing I really want, but I very often progress several of the other things Im trying to do

[Lavos]

Screenshots of books are almost a must. No idea why they're not permanently unlocked somehow. It's really a pain having to screenshot every page for later reference.

[AILAD]

If you just wanna reach the ending you don't need any serious note taking. If you're going for 100% completion that's a different story.

[PersonalC0ffee]

Originally posted by Forblaze:

Information.

Dates, names, codes, maps, information about the world, a lot of letters, diagrams, etc.

Plus more game-y stuff like potential interactions, contraption recipes, rules, and the like

A lot of the post-room 46 content is absolutely going to require notes.

/thread

[duck]

The non-spoiler advice i can give is, just keep in the back of your mind that a journal is recommended. You'll know when its time to start taking notes.

[sazandorable]

Screenshots of every document + locations I encounter and haven't figured out yet, to remember to return and puzzle it out once I have more info

+

A literal binder with color coded pens and index cards :-) both for the mechanics (each room has an entry bc wow there's a lot more than the directory tells you) and for the lore.
Besides the obvious noting down codes, I have also traced maps on paper to add my own notes and colors, copied text to decode, etc. Having a LOT of fun.

I've got two drawings of the house's grid map, one to annotate with information uncovered that doesn't change between days; and a "daily run", drawn in permanent pen and annotated in pencil with stuff from the day like where I've left behind dig spots, trunks or closed doors, plus keeping count of whatever I might need to during the day.
I erase it every time to start another run; it's holding on ok but I'm starting to consider using a plastic cover and dry-erase markers instead.

I'm probably over-doing it, but not even that much, tbh.