The Black Monolith - Was it ever figured out properly?

[Tastic]

I remeber the brute force effort to solve the Black Monolith puzzle when Fez first came out and even participated a little. That was a clever solution, but I never did find out if there was meant to be a real way to solve it.
Can someone point out a logical answer to it? I'd like to know more.

THANKS!

[Curious Duck]

Not really. Might want to take a look through this...

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/945079-fez/66123028

[T-wRecks]

http://i.imgur.com/6qjYcfq.jpg (which I found in the comments section of the IGN wiki page for the monolith) appears to be a plausible explanation. The tome even gets a use.

[5char]

http://www.giantbomb.com/fez/3030-24768/guide/

At the bottom.

[K4ever]

Originally posted by 5char:

http://www.giantbomb.com/fez/3030-24768/guide/

At the bottom.

Did you even read the op? .... -___-

[K4ever]

Originally posted by T-wRecks:

http://i.imgur.com/6qjYcfq.jpg (which I found in the comments section of the IGN wiki page for the monolith) appears to be a plausible explanation. The tome even gets a use.

So far, this explanation is the most stupidest one I found so far.

[5char]

Originally posted by KFORCE-K4:

Originally posted by 5char:

http://www.giantbomb.com/fez/3030-24768/guide/

At the bottom.

Did you even read the op? .... -___-

Ah right, guess I didn't read it properly.

[T-wRecks]

Originally posted by KFORCE-K4:

Originally posted by T-wRecks:

http://i.imgur.com/6qjYcfq.jpg (which I found in the comments section of the IGN wiki page for the monolith) appears to be a plausible explanation. The tome even gets a use.

So far, this explanation is the most stupidest one I found so far.

Why? The monolith is summoned via a ritual in a "summoning square", indicating that it is external to the game world. So you use an external but relevant datum (the release date) as a starting point. It then gets to the correct answer, using the tome in the process. I suspect you're calling the actual puzzle stupid without realizing it. ^.^

Edit: to clarify, the internal name for the monolith room is Ritual according to the gamefaqs thread Matt mentioned.

[durakrot]

hmm
it's interesting

[doubtingapostle]

Originally posted by T-wRecks:

Originally posted by KFORCE-K4:

So far, this explanation is the most stupidest one I found so far.

Why? The monolith is summoned via a ritual in a "summoning square", indicating that it is external to the game world. So you use an external but relevant datum (the release date) as a starting point. It then gets to the correct answer, using the tome in the process. I suspect you're calling the actual puzzle stupid without realizing it. ^.^

Edit: to clarify, the internal name for the monolith room is Ritual according to the gamefaqs thread Matt mentioned.

The puzzle is stupid, unless Fish intended to make it solvable via material released later (in which case, he should've just said so). If a puzzle is so convoluted that it's easier to solve with brute force than with reason and then the community of people working on it stops caring, then it's not a good puzzle. Honestly, this would be less offensive if Fish actually did intend the audience to brute force this, since at least then there wouldn't be this smug implication of a "real solution" floating around.

The suggested explanation given here isn't stupid, but it's problematic because it feels reverse engineered. There are all of these unstated assumptions: that the number is vertical and needs to go top to bottom, that it projects outward instead of behind it, that the encoding scheme is arbitrary and isn't hinted at in any other point in the game. A million other things could be tried but this one just happens to give the answer we want.

My point is, equally plausible explanations could be derived to produce the wrong answer. Optimally, a puzzle answer should be self-evident and it shouldn't be easier to get by accident. If this is the answer, then it is a terrible puzzle. A distasteful ending to an otherwise lovely game.

[Cocyx The Gay Skeleton]

watch 2001: a space oddysey and figure out what the monolith means there and you'll have your answer