[Unmarked Echoes of the Eye spoilers] What did you figure out on your own?

[Perseus]

In the Echoes of the Eye DLC, what did you manage to figure out on your own, without (all) the "intended" information, and how?
Here's me :

-The lantern shrines's secret passage.(I was convinced there was a secret, but i thought it had to do something with the number of lights in the paintings.)

-The secret entrance in the water at the base of the tower.(Nothing special here, i just noticed the hole in the side of the island.)

-How to use the Artifact. (I don't exactly remember my thought process : I know that when i found one(in the Hidden Gorge slide viewing house), i went straight to the fire, but i *think* i might have figured it out when i first saw a Lantern Shrine's secret basement.)

-The "walk away from the artifact" trick.(Nothing special, i just thought to try it. Although i don't think i realized that it could let me see invisible bridges.(i don't mean that i stared at one and didn't realize it was an invisible bridge, but that i didn't use the trick near an invisible bridge until i "learned" the trick the "proper" way.))

-That dying would allow me to get past the bells. (Because i didn't bother with stealth, instead using other ways to get through, i didn't have enough time to view more than one of the Starlit Cove's reels (the death-into-simulation one), and while i was waiting for the tower to fall the next cycle, i figured out that i couldn't hear anything while dead.
(By that point i knew about the other tricks and how they make it easier to reach themselves, so i was actively trying to figure out this trick.))

-That i could go into the bell from below.(I think i was simply trying to find a way in.)

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by Perseus:

-How to use the Artifact. (I don't exactly remember my thought process : I know that when i found one(in the Hidden Gorge slide viewing house), i went straight to the fire, but i *think* i might have figured it out when i first saw a Lantern Shrine's secret basement.)

I figured out this one (I was trying to use the artifact anywhere and also thought the aliens might have been asleep instead of dead - besides it also seemed fire related and there's only so much you can do in the room with them and the fire (focus didn't do anything).

I also found the second slide burning room very early on - if you look up you can see a side lake and then I thought there might be some reason that was there, it wasn't actually that well hidden compared to the rest. But I missed the special slide room there anyway until later.

[Sammun Mak]

Only one thing, which was how to get to (0,0) by turning off the light in the tunnels. It just got so dark in there it like begged me to see what would happen if all the lights were off.

[ReverendTed]

- The very first time I entered a loading tunnel, I thought "boy, this sure is dark. I wonder..." and planned to blow out the candles and Conceal my Artifact flame to make it as dark as possible. As soon as I blew out the last candle, the raft despawned and I was dropped into the vault\archives area.
- Entering the bell from below. Just seemed worthwhile to check all around it.
- The lantern shrine's secret passage, though I'm not sure that counts. I'm pretty sure I found that when the first one flooded, which seems somewhat intentional. Honestly, though, I've watched so many playthroughs that I can't recall if I found it after the flood, or by moving all the lanterns to the center of the room or something, because I know that was something I tried.

On the flip side, in my first playthrough I don't think I EVER found the grabber shortcut in Shrouded Woodlands.

[Perseus]

Originally posted by Quillithe:

if you look up you can see a side lake and then I thought there might be some reason that was there,

I thought so too, but unlike you i managed to completely miss the building when i went there.(i don't even think the dam had broken yet)

[Squin]

I figured out walking away from the artifact in the dream world pretty early on, after my first encounter with the pursuers I wanted to see what they would do if I didn't have the light on me to blow out (oof ouch); at that point I was still questioning whether it was a VR world or a link back to their homeworld, so it was quite the revelation.

That said, somehow the fact that seeing the code of the world revealed invisible bridges was the last thing I figured out in the game.

[GistOfSpirit]

I *almost* figured out walking away from the artifact.
I was at the canyon and hadn't noticed the path to the side (to make the bridge appear). After jumping in the water, I thought I got out of the dream because my flame went out. So I left the artifact at the top and tried jumping into the water again.
For a moment before I woke up, I saw everything go white. I thought that was strange but figured it was because I died.

[lieutenantkirtar]

I was still thinking about the puzzle solutions from the main game, so going through my second tunnel on the raft I put out all the candles and hid my light.

It kinda messed me up for a while as I kept trying to find places to use the quantum rules throughout the stranger and dream world to no avail.